A YORK teacher is taking part in a programme organised by billionaire inventor James Dyson to help inspire design and technology pupils.

Steven Parkinson, of Archbishop Holgate’s CE School, is one of a handful of teachers nationwide to be given a place on the scheme which gives the country’s best design technology (DT) teachers the chance to experience the frontline of British industry. The James Dyson Foundation is spending £100,000 to recruit outstanding teachers who will go into cutting-edge businesses to see how their subject translates into the working world. The foundation’s donation will also fund supply teacher cover to enable teachers to take time out of the classroom.

Mr Parkinson, subject leader for design, technology and engineering, said: “This is about closing the gap between industry and school, so that schools – and that means pupils and schools – can be inspired in terms of what it’s possible to achieve.

“The exciting end of DT is in real-life situations, in business and industry – but often teachers have not any direct experience of that because they have gone straight from school through university and training, back into school as a teacher.

“What they need is to see how their subject makes a difference in boardrooms and on shop floors – and this scheme is going to help do that.”

Earlier this year, Mr Parkinson won the title of Design And Technology Teacher Of The Year from the James Dyson Foundation.

Mr Dyson said: “Teachers are our biggest asset in inspiring the inventors of the future.

“But to challenge conventional thinking and generate new ideas, it’s imperative that they use the latest, most exciting, materials. By working with industry and sharing their expertise the teaching fellows can ensure the classroom is brimming with exciting ideas and new technology.”