Platforms for improvement

Each year I try to publish a schedule of Bucks schools art exhibitions and to visit as many as I can. Last week I visited a GCSE and GCE exhibition at Waddesdon C of E School which is a visual arts college. The work was excellent (I loved the combination of digital photography and textiles in this sketchbook) but still evolving and it was interesting to recognise the evolution of practice and expectations over time (I have known the work of the school for twelve years after all). But I was astonished at the sophistication and maturity of the work in graphic design. In discussion with staff at the school we noted that standards were being built incrementally year on year as students acquired and demonstrated in their work a set of visual references relating to contemporary design practice. The interesting point was the recognition of the influence of each cohort on the succeeding cohort of 6th form students. Perhaps this was easier to recognise in the work of these graphics students because the course was new and the work was unlike other work done in the department. We felt that it was possible to see how each cohort had added a further level of sophistication and maturity to the visual set of references in the department. Of course it was possible that teaching had also evolved but it did seem that there was an annual cultural shift in the visual references and understanding used by each cohort that seemed to be built upon the legacy of previous cohorts. I recall a similar evolution of sophistication and maturity in the development of a course in Theatre Design.

I recall some years ago visiting an exhibition of BTEC graphics in a college of FE. It seemed that students gained so much from the contemporary, professional, visual and cultural references of the college. It was hard to see how 6th form students in schools surrounded by a visual environment of Yr 7 and Yr 10 art work could acquire a similar level of sophistication. This exhibition demonstrated how it can be done and how much students actually absorb and learn from each other.

Animation in Yr2

This afternoon I visited an infant school to celebrate the work they had done for arts week. We noted that a few years ago the idea of just doing art for a week was inconceivable, but how good it is that this is now, not only possible, but desirable. The head teacher and I recognised the cyclical nature of innovation and looked back with nostalgia at the 1967 Plowden Report which informed our early teaching. Those under 50 who don't know what I am talking about can get the text of this report online and get ahead of the game.

I was particularly interested to see some animation work by Yr 2. Talking to the teacher I learned a lot about how they had done this. It was a simple animation with dialogue rehearsed in a drama lesson. The animation was made with an ordinary digital camera and the images were imported into Windows Movie Maker. Talking to the children confirmed that they had quickly taken over all the processes including editing.

It is obvious when you know, but it had not occurred to me before, that it is so much easier if the sound track is put in before the images. It is a lot simpler to adjust the length of time images are on the screen than it is to edit sound. In this animation the first thing that went into the movie was the dialogue - recorded directly into Movie Maker.

The second thing that became apparent, was the role of the interactive whiteboard. Movie Maker may be simple entry level software, but these were Yr 2 children and the underlying concepts are complicated. However, the teacher was amazed at how quickly and easily they took to using Movie Maker on the whiteboard. We recognised that it must be the fact that the process of dragging and dropping clips into the time line and then stretching, or squeezing, them to fit was a physical activity, done using their hands, was what made it seem so straight forward to the children.

We also noted that it would be possible, and perhaps easier, to use simple and cheap animation software rather than Movie Maker for stop frame animation. This might include 2Simple2Animate or Revelation Sight & Sound .

So I am grateful to the teachers of Iver Heath Infant school who reminded me of Plowden, gave me some good tips about animation, and showed how very young children can be quite comfortable with ideas and software that we think will be far too complicated for them.