Jobs that use Design & Technology (Year 9)

Design & Technology connects to a wide range of careers - from engineering and construction to product design, fashion, and the skilled trades. This lesson plan will help you to show Year 9 students which jobs use Design & Technology and what those jobs involve.

This lesson is designed to be delivered in 30 minutes as a teacher-led classroom activity.

This activity supports the following frameworks:

  • Gatsby Benchmark 4

This activity is suitable for Year 9 and features careers linked to the following subjects:

  • Design and Technology

This is one of three lesson plans designed for Year 9 Design & Technology teachers:

These lesson plans will help you show students how Design & Technology connects to their future careers.

We recommend using this lesson plan at the very beginning of Year 9. When students start considering their GCSE choices, the earlier they have a concrete sense of where Design & Technology can take them, the better the decisions they'll make later in the year.

Learning objectives

  • Students will be able to evaluate specific jobs that use Design & Technology.
  • Students will understand what those jobs involve day-to-day.
  • Students will name a job that interests them and describe one thing they could do to learn more.

Before the lesson

  • You will need a computer connected to the internet and a classroom screen.
  • Open the Jobs that use Design & Technology page and have it ready on the screen.
  • Review the list of jobs that use Design & Technology. Pick 3 jobs to explore in more depth:
    • One job that's predictable for Design & Technology.
    • One job that's less predictable for Design & Technology.
    • One skilled trade reached through an apprenticeship.
  • View the detailed career page for those jobs so that you know what's there before the class starts.

During the lesson

1. What do you already know? (5 minutes)

  • Ask the class to suggest jobs that use Design & Technology and briefly explain how.
  • Write the suggestions on the board. Note which jobs feel realistic to them and which feel distant.

2. Looking at jobs in depth (15 minutes)

  • Bring up the Jobs that use Design & Technology page on the classroom screen.
  • For each of the jobs you picked, open the full career page and discuss with the class:
    • What does the job involve day-to-day?
    • How does the job use Design & Technology skills?
    • What other subjects or skills are important?
    • What routes lead into that job?
  • Spend more time on one page if students are engaged, rather than rushing through all three.

3. Making it personal (10 minutes)

  • Ask students to pick one job from today's lesson that interests them.
  • Go round the class, asking each student to name the job and answer:
    • What is it about the job that appeals to you most?
    • What's one thing you could do to learn more about it?
  • Close by reminding students that the more careers they know about, the better placed they'll be when they come to make GCSE choices later in the year.

After the lesson