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In this episode, I'm excited to share three brilliant opportunities for you to get involved in research that's shaping the future of design and technology education. First, I'll tell you about the Redesigning Design and Technology project I'm co-leading with Ciaran, Andrew, and Amanda. We've identified 18 contentious questions that divide our community and created a survey where you can share your views on these crucial debates. This research feels particularly timely with England's curriculum and assessment review underway, and I believe teacher voices need to be heard loud and clear in policy discussions.

I'll also discuss the evaluation I'm leading of the Design and Technology Association's Inspired by Industry resources. Working alongside Kay Stables and my colleagues at Nottingham Trent, we're examining how these resources impact pupils' progress in D&T. It's a fantastic opportunity for participating schools to gather rich data about their own practice whilst contributing to sector-wide understanding.

Finally, I'm launching an urgent call for contributors to a new podcast series addressing special educational needs and disabilities in D&T. This is such an under-researched area, yet absolutely vital to our practice. Whether you're facing challenges or have developed innovative approaches, I want to hear from you.

Each of these projects represents a chance to contribute to evidence-based practice in our subject. They're about empowering teachers to shape research rather than simply consuming it. The insights we gather will benefit the entire D&T community.

What conversations about D&T practice do you think we need to be having more openly in our schools and professional networks?

Take part in the Redesigning D&T survey: https://bit.ly/ReDandT_Phase3

Join the evaluation of the Inspired by Industry projects: https://bit.ly/IBIinterest

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