I found this article very readable and well written, and you have located your case study example very firmly and carefully in the surrounding literature. The story of moving from â€craft’ to creativity with a group of teachers who are not specialists in design, is an important and interesting one, and a very concrete account of what creativity might mean on the ground. I liked the visual images which also give a clear idea of what the activities involved, and the voices of students emerge as evidence for your claim to have made a difference.

I have though, a few concerns, some fairly broad and others local and specific.

BROAD QUESTIONS

1) You are making a very broad claim for â€making a difference’ and demonstrating your core values. Whilst I do see this in terms of students’ comments, I am not entirely clear how all the small-step activities build up to a broader skill in creative design, which can be taken beyond the classroom and translated into actual practice for your student teachers. For example, I would like to see if and how this work with you has changed what they actually do as teachers. You make a core value the desire to lead students towards independence and autonomy in their learning. But I am not quite sure what they would now be able to DO on their own, without your intervention, as a result of these classes. I’d love you to show me!

2) You also mention that you do not want to simply impart knowledge and information, but to lead students towards their own discoveries. However, as a non-design specialist, I am really very curious and interested to know what these knowledge/skill areas actually are– if you were to make explicit the skills you feel your students had developed, what would these be? How would they map over the learning outcomes that might typically be found in a design and technology syllabus? And how have these outcomes been realised in different and new ways by your activities?

3) You mention too (eg. on p. 4 and p. 5) that your students expect a directed approach in which you are the â€source of knowledge’: and also that, as a result, you often found yourself teaching in a way that was not congruent with your own beliefs (p. 7). Can you give us evidence for this? You are really asking your reader to take this on faith, but an example activity, exchange with a student, lesson or resource you have used that highlights this conflict would really be illuminating. I also find â€critical incidents’ an interesting way to show the living paradox in action. Do you have one that might highlight what you are saying here?

4) You unpack the debates connected with â€creativity’, but I think a working definition of what you mean by this would be very useful. For example, â€creative’ might have a very specific way of manifesting itself in design and technology that is different, for example, from a creative mathematician. What does â€creative’ look like in your field? How would you recognise it? And when you ask students to â€present their work in a creative way’ (p. 10), how exactly do you frame this or explain this so it makes sense to them?

5) There is quite a liberal referencing to other literature –eg. Spendlove, Butterworth on p. 4. I have the sense here that you are referring to specific craft principles, which would help to ground my knowledge as a reader. But they are mentioned in passing, and it is only by checking back to your biblio that I see many of these references are craft-specific. Some of the language you use and accounts of activity are submerging the discipline specificity of your subject- and I think you could give more centrality to this. (eg. see suggestions about p. 4).

VERY LOCAL SUGGESTIONS

p. 4 When you refer to Spendlove and Butterworth in parenthesis, I feel there is something really interesting here being referred to in passing. A revised sentence might read: â€Craft’ emphasises the importance of originality, user and purpose ---†and then tell us why, how, with what results, who says etc.

p. 6 You’ve missed out a word 9 lines up from the second paragraph – â€everyone can experience from successful creative.’

p. 8 You mention students †may have chosen to develop a subject interest’. I feel I need to know more exactly about who these students are: are they initial pre-service teachers? Is this an option within their training programme? what stage in their development is this course? Have they had any teaching experience before or concurrent with this?

Data collection: the opening paragraph here I think fits better under â€What data did I gather?’ with the second paragraph being flagged as ethical considerations.

Ethical considerations paragraph: in addition, I think I’d like to have assurance that students knew their work with you would not influence their assessment.

p. 9 At the bottom you quote Taylor â€trying to encourage children to use me as a tool for their learning’. At surface level, this could appear to contradict your stated aim on p. 5 â€where we are all simultaneously teachers and students’. The Taylor quotation does suggest that the teacher is differentiated from the learner, and they do not merge into one identity. So I’d be interested in how you relate this statement to your earlier one and showing how the two could be compatible.

p. 10 You mention you had reduced time for sessions with your students. Was this important? Did you mention this earlier?

After What was the outcome, I think you mean that group B comprised students K to P (not J to P)?

p. 12 You mention at the top of the page that you prioritised certain activities over others. Can you tell us what these priorities were?

p. 16 Figure 3: I’d like to know more about the wheel and axle vehicle. Was this created by a student? What was the task that generated this? The pictures are unusual and interesting, but would have more power if there was an explanation or evaluation of these- either yours, or the students own statement about them. How do the Harry Potter glasses work? How does the night light work? (Figures 5 and 6)? Was there any articulation of ideas by the student?

p. 19 It’s great that you had a panel of critical friends to respond to these questions. But what did these critical friends say and how did you learn from them? You list the questions themselves, but not what resulted from them.

OVERALL