Our purpose
The Government School of Design helps the Civil Service use design more confidently and effectively when making public policies, services and spaces.
Public design brings together public purpose, evidence, people’s needs, systems and the realities of delivery. It helps government understand complex problems, consider different responses, test assumptions and learn before committing significant public money, authority or operational capacity.
The school develops capability at three levels: practical design understanding across the Civil Service, professional practice among public designers, and organisational capability among senior leaders and public bodies.
The school also provides a research and practice platform for public design, bringing together evidence, professional practice and learning from across government to strengthen the field and improve how public design is understood and used.
How the school works
The school is built through collaboration across the Civil Service and with national design institutions, and is hosted by the Department for Education.
- Learning for different needs: Design for Everyone builds practical understanding, Design for Leaders strengthens organisational capability, and Design for Experts develops professional public design practice.
- Learning through practice: Courses combine teaching, practical activities, peer learning and opportunities to apply learning in realistic or work-based contexts.
- Civil servants teaching civil servants: Courses are developed and taught by practising designers, policymakers and senior leaders from across the UK Civil Service.
- Professional recognition: Design for Experts provides routes to professional certification jointly awarded by the Government School of Design and the Chartered Society of Designers, and to Chartered Designer status.
- Support for organisations: The school provides bespoke learning and consultancy to help public bodies commission, integrate and sustain design capability.
More information
Explore the evidence and professional frameworks that inform the school’s curriculum, or meet the civil servants who teach our courses.