AS and A Level Design and Technology:  Why do OCR refer to ‘users’ and ‘stakeholders’ rather than ‘clients’?

This qualification is designed to reflect the practice and thinking that happens in our 21^st century design and manufacturing industry. Clients are referenced in the DfE content and all legacy specifications, but when OCR were challenged by industry on this, reference to ‘clients’ was felt to be inappropriate both in terms of students learning and understanding, but most importantly that when designing iteratively, it is intrinsically user-centred and in most instances users are not actually the designers clients. There is also a significant importance in understanding the needs and differing perceptions of other stakeholders (manufacturers, retailers, carers etc.) who are not using the product, but have an interest in its success or performance.

This is one of many changes in terminology that have all been outline in our Terminology Guide that has been designed to be student facing, acting as a great flipped learning resource

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