Around three years ago, the Design and Technology Association recognised a problem which many teachers expressed. Many D&T teachers had entered the profession through the traditional route, school-university-school and as such had no experience of working in business or industry that could inform their teaching. 

We tried a few trials with teacher placements into industry. We instantly saw that there was gold dust within this work as both the teacher and the industry host came back with glowing accounts of what they gained from the placement, and so Teachers in Residence was born. 

This short mini-series of podcasts will explore the Teachers in Residence initiative from the perspective of both teacher and placement host, starting with Mario de Freitas, D&T teacher at St.Birinus Boys School in Oxfordshire, who recently undertook a three-day TiR placement at Bulletproof Design https://www.wearebulletproof.com in Covent Garden, London. 

Mario tells us why this initiative appealed to him, what he gained professionally and personally from the experience and, perhaps most importantly, how this has changed and helped to shape his professional practice at St.Birinus. 

So please sit back, relax and enjoy the first in our Teachers in Residence mini-series with Mario de Freitas. 

https://www.st-birinus-school.org.uk
https://www.wearebulletproof.com
https://www.designtechnology.org.uk/for-partners/blueprint-1000/teachers-in-residence/

The Design and Technology Association is indebted to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) for supporting the Teachers in Residence initiative.