Design Education does not exist in a vacuum

There is no advantage to designers in perpetuating out-dated modes of thinking. Graduates of such an approach would be disadvantaged in contrast to their peers in respect of their ability to design within the constraints of the real world. Not something that students would choose and not something that educators would actively impose. The environment in which graduates will be ‘employed’ is multi-faceted, complex and influenced by over-arching economic barriers that prevent many solutions reaching the market, and into the hand of users. Change is needed, not least in training graduates to challenge the validity of a given design challenge; but to challenge the notion that problems can be ‘known’ without really ’knowing’. <Future> Design education does not exist in a vacuum; therefore, the teaching model needs disruption in order to support the development of empathic, sensitive and entrepreneurial, future game-changers. TInnGO, Coventry FabLab (and other projects we could mention) engaged interns in a programme that reframes the relationship between knowledge and creativity. An approach where all citizen and stakeholder contributions at varied levels are valued and are fed into policy change, product or service design, upskilling stakeholders as citizen social scientists and co-designers so that their lived experience enhances the depth of understanding within young design teams. This paper explores how this was achieved, the barriers we have been subject to and co-proposes ways to move forward.