There's no such thing as a free launch

It was good to be at the launch of the new secondary curriculum launched at Lords by Lord Adonis, Ken Boston, Mick Waters, Andrew Motion, Gareth Mills, some teachers and a few pupils. It was accompanied by an exhibition of art by one of our schools (Chalfonts Community College) which was why I was there. . Perhaps the important point is that we - that is various Bucks colleagues and I - have been working with Robin Widdowson (subject Officer at QCA) on various projects for the last couple of years and QCA felt that Bucks could be trusted to provide examples of high quality and innovative practice at, what for them, was a significant and risky public event. Greg should be congratulated for his work on this event and especially for presenting some of the innovative digital work that is being developed in Bucks.


However, our involvement with the KS3 launch goes a bit further than that as we have been working with QCA for over a year now. The new KS3 Art programme was developed by a relatively small group which included myself and another of our art teachers Marc Berrett of Waddesdon C of E. Last summer I was also asked to develop some teacher responses and case studies based on the programme of study and was able to include Waddesdon C of E, The Grange and Beaconsfield Upper in this process. In March (at the last minute) I was also asked to rewrite the art level descriptions to match the new KS programme of study for 2008. I am particularly pleased because we clearly identified creativity including originality,imagination and creative risk taking as a necessary aspect of art education - so another win for creativity and Bucks. I have posted the matrix that used to create the levels on the A4 (Art Advisers) website - in case you are interested.


I am, by nature, extremely self deprecating but it seems a good time to mention work we have done beyond KS3? Last year I managed a project to develop some assessment case studies for publication by QCA. I worked with three Bucks schools on this project developing case studies about assessment and transition - Ashmead school, Waddesdon C of E and tangentially Whitchurch school. These case studies are now published and available from QCA.

Bucks has also been involved in the GCSE review this year as I was asked by QCA to prepare the first draft of proposals for GCSE art subject criteria. Marc Berrett (Waddesdon C of E) and I were also at the main GCSE consultation where we worked on the art and design subject criteria (online consultation now open). Finally, I was also on the scrutiny panel for the new GCE syllabuses over Easter. So, one way or another this year, we have contributed to the national evolution of art and design in KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, and 6th form and in piloting new media: in some of these cases quite significantly.


I mention all this simply because I am excited (and tired) and pleased to have been able to end this year with a record of success and want to note the contribution Bucks has made and that it has acquired a strong reputation nationally. I think there is also some clear momentum now which will sustain the future development of subject leadership in Bucks. Its important that we do recognise that we have in Bucks some really excellent work and practice and that in some areas we are taking a lead. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank those colleagues who have worked with me sharing expertise, excitement and enthusiasm for the work we do together.

It is also a good note to end on. In September my role will change as I have accepted the post of area adviser in the area office: north. But I will retain some strategic responsibility for art and design although this will become a much smaller part of my work. Next term we will need to explore some of the opportunities that are available to support art and design. We will explore the work of AST's; how art departments wish to use the Waddesdon Arts festival; how Specialist Schools might work together (as some already are) to take responsibility for subject leadership; how we can work with Creative Partnerships which is changing to provide more opportunities for Bucks schools to become involved; how we might work with the Montgomery Trust which has a sculpture park in Chalfonts St Giles (and I bet you did not know that). I will also try to sustain the Bucksgfl art website and probably the blog - and wild horses could not keep me away from some involvement with the MAD Waddesdon Festival which next year will be on the weekend of 28th 29th June 2008.

So still much to do but this will be the last bulletin when I should call myself 'County Art Adviser'. In the last 12 years I have circulated these art bulletins by post, fax, email and now blog (about 96 in all) - usually in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the corporate technology. I hope you have found some of them useful. Have a good summer.

Creative and innovative practice

Spent really exciting evening at a GCE, GCSE art exhibition at Chalfonts Community College. Above there is part of a students contextual study, all printed on cans which was a brilliant idea. The whole thing is set in an abstracted display cabinet (it relates to Pop Art). There was some excellent painting with real sensitivity and maturity in the use of the oil paint and some really excellent drawing and illustration and some very clever digital art installations.

The digital art work was particularly interesting as the school has pioneered a GCSE course in digital media (under the unendorsed art and design GCSE specification). There are now students at AS level with three years experience of digital work having completed the two year GCSE digital art course in KS4. You can get a sense of the work being done by looking at Ben's video blog on YouTube. It is genuinely intriguing and revealing. The video blog shows how the ideas developed, some of Bens references and the final animations (these were shown projected onto a very large gauze screen in a dark environment with loud music so the YouTube version is just an approximation of the actual installation). What is perhaps more important is that it demonstrates a genuine partnership between Ben and his teachers as Ben is encouraged to take risks and experiment with a medium and grammar which is demonstrably his own, rather than that of the school. So Ben is taking ownership of his own independent practice encouraged and supported by his teachers - it can only happen with trust on both sides.

As Stephen Heppell has said "all this has been changed by the ability of modern computers to allow expression in a wide variety of media: speech, sound and aural ambience, text as labels or prose, symbols, animation, music, video, diagrams and more. And all this can be individual or collaborative, in public or private, at school or (for many but not all) at home. Obviously this broadens the corridors through which learners might evidence their success", Stephen Heppell

The evidence of trust was evident in many other students' work as well. digital animations dealt with intensely moving and personal themes which could only have come about in an atmosphere of mutual respect between students and students, and between students and their teachers. In a sense it reminded me of the way that good drama is always predicated on genuine trust within the group which allows personal expression to be shared and celebrated. It is almost always a characteristic of work which is most exciting - where students are able to use their art to explore issues and ideas of personal significance to themselves and their lives.

As a postscript I have just posted a first video to YouTube. It is a short film made in partnership with the school about an introductory visit to Sweden to develop ideas for working with the artist and designer Andie Cowie. We intended to use the Chalfonts Community College VLE to explore the option of having an artist/designer from another country contribute to the VLE based course.

Assessment burdens

A visit to the GCSE exhibition at Sir William Borlase's Grammar School included an interesting discussion on the amount of work students do in art. We came to no clear conclusions but felt that the assessment burden on teachers and students for GCSE/GCE examinations does seem excessive in art. But it was harder to identify precisely where the pressure comes from. To a certain extent it is self imposed, the examination rubric talks of a 'selection' implying that not everything the student sdoes should be selected. We have also invented an evidence trail which consists of highly contrived and carefully executed works of art in the form of 'artists books'.

The question posed by the head of art was quite simple. "Are we asking them to do too much and what are other schools doing?" I guess the answer to the first question is 'probably' and to the second it is 'the same as you'. It is interesting to compare the sketchbook/journal approach with that used by Ben from Chalfonts Community College. The evidence for his development of ideas and research for his AS this year is given simply on YouTube as a video blog. Other work in the same school uses a narration over a slide show to present ideas rather than a sketchbook (using relatively simple software).

This year I worked with QCA to revise the subject criteria for art and design GCSE examinations. I wrote the initial working paper proposals which went to a consultative group. Part of the brief was to seek ways to reduce the assessment burden on pupils and teachers. One of the stumbling blocks was that all 4 assessment objectives are assessed in both coursework and externally set test. Which means that the same objectives are met twice. It also means that the externally set test has the constraint of requiring evidence for each of the 4 assessment objectives - which are equally weighted. Hence the evolution of a particular pattern of response which is virtually identical from school to school. There was a brief moment when a new pattern began to emerge but consultation forced it back to the status quo. However, exam boards are likely to be charged with seeking to reduce the assessment burden by defining more carefully what might constitute evidence for assessment.

However, perhaps the question has two perspectives. From the simple perspective of producing evidence, for assessment, of the ability to research and develop ideas students probably spend too much time illuminating sketchbooks. However, from the perspective of producing works of art which are illuminating, expressive and often deeply personal it is hard to regret the time and effort. Indeed these are often the most exciting and creative outcomes of their course.

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.

Revised Key Stage 3

Revised Key Stage 3 Programme of Study.

The proposed new Key Stage 3 programme of study can be seen on the QCA website. An online response form is also available and colleagues will, no doubt wish to respond. It would be a good focus for a departmental discussion for instance. The final version should be available in autumn 2007 ready for first teaching in September 2008. The QCA website has useful background and supporting material about the revisions to the whole KS3 curriculum which are helpful.

Some ideas:

The PoS for art has been designed to be less prescriptive and also backwards compatible. This means that if schools are following the national curriculum now they should not need to change anything. However, there is a clear obligation to audit current practice to ensure that it does comply with the the PoS. Some departments and teachers will use this as an opportunity to make significant changes to their current practice. KS3 is the last period of statutory art education and art teachers, like those in other subjects, will see this as an opportunity to explore what sort of entitlement, experience and expertise they want to provide for their students. This should be more than a prelude to GCSE.

The PoS comes with a popup glossary which is helpful in suggesting interpretations but is not statutory. One approach to the PoS in a department could be to ensure that a common understanding is developed and a redefinition of terms could be a good way of establishing this. For instance, 'creative environments' is described thus 'This includes experience working in museums and galleries'. But schools might ask "How do we want to interpret the notion of a creative environment in this school?"

Teachers learn best from other teachers and the site includes some examples of how teachers might use the new PoS. There will be more examplars with time and this will be helpful.

Assessment is a problem, however. There are currently no plans to make any significant changes to the level descriptions. These are built quite explicitly on the current (three strand) programme of study. However, the new PoS does not follow the three strand pattern but introduces a new conceptual framework for the subject 'explore and create' and 'understand and evaluate'. A two strand, or four strand, model depending on how it is used. This will lead to a situation in which learning is planned according to one framework, but assessed using another - clearly an unsatisfactory situation. It is possible to repack the three strands into the two strand model and vice-versa - possible perhaps, desirable no. If the situation remains then teachers will have to square this circle somehow.

The new PoS does explicitly refer to critical understanding (key concepts) with a broad cultural reference point. It requires understanding of both, the cultural context and characteristics, and also consideration of the role of the artist. This should guide us to think more carefully about the nature of culture and be mindful of presenting dot paintings masquerading as aboriginal art and other examples of multicultural art which are too close to parodies of Victorian stereotypes - and as a consequence in all probability illegal under the Race Relations Act.

The PoS recognises the need to include 'contemporary practice' (range and content). The principle of ensuring that art education does not come to an end in the 1970's of pop art is to be applauded by art teachers but the pragmatic difficulties of getting first hand experience may tax schools. However, the thrust of creating a curriculum of local distinctiveness that permeates the whole KS3 agenda suggests that schools should be more willing to explore the options open to them.

Creativity: It is surprising that the definition of creativity in the new PoS singularly fails to reflect the characteristics of creativity which have been accepted by all since the NACCCE report and which are a part of QCA definition of creativity anyway. This will make it harder to engage in the pursuit of creativity in partnership with others

Aims; For the first time the general aims are statutory. This means that teachers should take account in their teaching of the need for learners to 'enjoy learning' and to become 'confident individuals' etc. This is proper and no more than the ECM expectations but it should be included in the curriculum audit and departmental SEF.

'Explore and create' - 'Understand and evaluate'; This is a good model and to an extent suggests a distinction between practical skills and intellectual processes. This could be helpful, for instance, in recognising the sources of evidence for assessment (practical work on the one hand, and behaviour, writing or discussion to provide evidence of understanding on the other) but is not as clear as it might be and some strands almost seem to be duplicated. It is possible to offer them up to the current three strand model, but to do so does change the conceptual frame of reference.

Applied contexts and New Technologies; It is good to see that 'the study of art and design should include both applied and fine art practices' and 'work in 2D, 3D and new technologies'. The key words being 'should' and 'and'. This 'should' mean that applied work and new technologies will increasingly become an entitlement and this 'should' support progression to the new Diploma in creative and media studies.

Should we allow nudes?

I got an interesting question from a head of department the other day. It had been suggested to him that 6th form students should not use the nude in their work. He asked what other schools were doing. Here is my reply:

"An interesting question which, to a certain extent relates to the cultural climate within the school rather than to any given set of rules or protocols. I know several schools that offer life drawing either in school or sometimes at the art school. These are usually done after school, or as special events and do include both male and female 6th form students and male and female models. These studies are used as the basis for paintings in some cases (as in Jenny Saville). In these cases the study of the nude is managed by the school and has clear references to normal art practice and to the practice of western artists for centuries. It involves a professional model and the session is carefully managed - parents are informed and it is not compulsory. In fact I have just talked to the head of art in an Upper school who has just finished an 8 week, after school, life class for the 6th form and a few invited, talented, yr10 and Yr11 students. He said it has been one of the most valuable experiences students have had and that it has made a significant contribution to raising standards. I would have thought a managed life class would be appropriate at 6th form level in most schools. However, in some schools, perhaps Catholic Schools or other faith schools, this might be deemed inappropriate although I have not found this to be the case in the church schools I know.

I think that care should be taken where students are drawing or working from non-professional models, themselves or friends for instance, and in all cases where this has happened the models are not completely nude and would be wearing the equivalent of a swimming costume. The same would be true of figure work based upon students own photographs. Often these are quite intense pictures which have a great significance for the students involved. They indicate great trust between the student, the teacher and the ethos of the art department and often they are some of the most moving and significant art I see in schools.

It is hard to see how it is possible to avoid looking at nudes if one is studying Western Art and by and large students at KS4, KS5 will be quite familiar with the notion. Sometimes they may draw on this art as a reference point in their own work. Although copying from artists is not good as an end product, there is certainly a place for studying and using the work of professional artists and this will involve practical responses at times. I guess the issue here is the context and reason the student might have for working from a Gaugin nude. The intellectual raison d'etre for studying the nude should be easy to articulate by older school students studying art. KS3 students may be exposed to nudes in western Art in their course of study but it is seldom a main focus - apart from highly stylised depictions of the nude form. They cannot, of course, visit Tate Britain, or Tate Modern, without seeing nudes and primary schools visit these galleries all the time.

As to Islamic students: I have worked on a working party to explore some of these issues including representatives of the muslim community in Wycombe. My understanding is that in Islam it is good to study and to study other cultures. So it is not wrong to study western art and this will include the realistic depiction of figures. Teachers should be sensitive and should not embarrass, female, Muslim students in particular, who may feel that they do not wish to study pictures of nudes. Some Muslims also believe it is wrong for them to portray the human figure as this is blasphemy because it emulates creation, which can only be done by Allah. It would clearly be wrong to require such students to paint/draw a figure: and certainly not a nude figure. They may also not wish to discuss the work of fellow students who are working from life.

Ultimately it is a matter for the school. However, with sensitive and professional handling (and noting the caveat about Muslim pupils beliefs and feelings) I personally see no reason why students at KS 4 and P16 should not learn about the nude in western art, use images of the human form in their own art and in managed circumstances study the nude model in life classes. This is managed sensitively in other schools and contributes to the learning of students - often by requiring mature reflection about art and its purpose in relation to the human condition."