For the first two periods I was placed with a year 7 art. It was a different class and straight away the teacher was strict with the class, telling them all to line up at the back of the classroom. She then placed them in a seating plan with the naughty children placed in particular spots and then girl boy arrangements. It was apparent her reasoning for this was to show the children the level of discipline and behaviour that she expected in her lessons.
The tutor then went through the topic for the upcoming weeks. What I found interesting was that before she went through everything, she had a few sentences that were not do with the lesson. The children were not listening to her at this period and it was apparent that she did this so the children would listen to the vital information. An interesting tactic that I should utilise in the future.
The topic that they would covering for the next 8 weeks was Zoomorphia and they would be making clay heads, based on Melody Ellis. The tutor showed examples in the style of work she wanted created, it was important that she did this to show the level of work she expected and it helped the children form their own ideas. She then told them how to layout their work with telling them the size dimensions and colours to use etc.
It became apparent that the children were being told to do this to reach targets and expectations. This is currently a big topic going on at the moment, many teachers are leaving this profession due to this new method of teaching. "...it’s getting harder to recruit the target number of teachers with an apparent 7% shortfall in the required number of trainee teachers." Perhaps the reasoning for this is done to "Pupils have become instruments for teachers to achieve their performance management targets rather than individuals. I am still bemused by the expectation that all pupils are expected to make the same amount of progress within an academic year."1
The next two periods I was placed with the Year 12 Art group. This I feel was one of the most interesting periods as we were able to help those with their exam work as well as their coursework. I worked with two different girls and spoke to them about how to progress and develop their work. What I found disappointing was they were no different use of materials or different artistic methods. However, could this be the reason? "It cited figures showing that since 2010, the number of arts teachers in schools had fallen by up to 11%, teaching hours and teachers for design and technology were down 11%, drama teacher levels had fallen by 8% and teaching hours for the subject, including hours taught by non-specialists, had reduced by 4%. The number of art teachers had also fallen by 4%, while the subject had seen a 6% decline in teaching hours, it added." With the number of teachers falling and the number of hours they are able to teach for the subject, it is apparent they are losing their resources and therefore, they are unable to help with the creative freedom. This, however is a major concern by many people about this, "There are major concerns that the educational system is not focusing on the future needs of the cultural and creative industries and the broader needs for innovation and growth in the UK," the commission said."There is a general agreement within the cultural and creative industries, and industry more broadly, that the government's focus on science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) should include the arts (Steam). But the commission said ministers were "obsessed with a siloed subject-based curriculum" and early specialisation in arts or science. "We need creative scientists as much as we need artists who understand the property of materials and the affordances of new technology," it said."2
The Department of Education does however saying, "A Department for Education spokesman said arts subjects were statutory in primary schools and up to the start of GCSEs. And he highlighted that the number of pupils taking music; and art and design GCSE had risen between 2013 to 2014. "As part of our plan for education, we are ensuring all pupils experience a broad and balanced curriculum which will prepare them for life in modern Britain - the arts are a key part of this. "We are clear that arts education should be every bit as rigorous as the rest of the school curriculum, and we have strengthened the national curriculum in these subjects and reformed the music and art GCSEs and A-levels to make sure this is the case." The DfE added that it was providing £109m for 2014-15 to support music, art and cultural education projects - £17m more than the previous year."2 Hopefully this will mean, that the arts curriculum is on the increase and taken seriously.
Day Six
For the first two periods I was Year 13 Art. As they were doing their exam work and finishing everything off for their handing dates, we could only briefly speak to them. However we were able to look at the exam and coursework papers from AQA Exam board. What I found interesting was the the paper gives you suggestions of ideas that you can look at within the theme and artists correlating to it. For example, the theme was "Flaws, Perfections, Ideals or Compromises", and for the Fine Art section it spoke about classical Greek and Roman sculptors, who corrected imperfections and an example is Marc Quinn's portraits of Alison Lapper and John E. Sutton. I spoke earlier that often the schools were telling students what they should do in order to get the grades, but from this, it seems that the exam is doing the same. There is no creative freedom within the paper, and allowing students to develop their own ideas and work. Reports claim "A survey of students and teachers in schools, colleges and universities, conducted by University of the Arts London (UAL), found more than half had little faith in the content of the present A-level. Nick Juba, director of UAL awarding body, says: "We know that the A-level in art and design probably isn't as good as it could be, purely from fact that there are so many students taking a foundation diploma, a one-year course sat after A-level that most students have to take if they want to go to a selective art school."3
For the last two periods, we were given a debrief about the two weeks, asked how they went and how to get into teaching. It became apparent in the last two weeks, that you truly have to want to become a teacher. If you didn't enjoy the placement, which was the case for me, then it is clear that you would not enjoy teaching. However, it could be the age group and I feel that I shouldn't say no to teaching completely until I have volunteered with primary school. Louise gave us tips, for example if we were going into teaching, we should start doing unpaid volunteering at a school. If you decide to do a PGCE, then hopefully the school can offer you a placement or either future employment. It is important to create as many contacts in any venture that we go down, as it getting increasingly difficult to find employment. As mentioned earlier, there is fall in the number of Art teachers, however, speaking to Louise, one of the reasons for this is school hire a new Maths or English teacher. "It believes the government’s focus on science, technology, engineering and maths needs also to include the arts. It says: “Policymakers are obsessed with a siloed subject-based curriculum and early specialisation in arts or science disciplines that ignores and obscures discussion around the future need for all children to enjoy an education that encourages creativity.” 4 Although I don't feel like I would go into teaching, I can always use the placement at the school on my CV, as well as the workshop that we will create in the future as an Artist Residency.
We also got to start making plans for the workshop. As there is so many of us, we will be splitting into groups and giving two different workshops, one of those I will be involved with. The workshop will take place over the school day so will be 5 hours and 20 minutes. We are able to choose the year group that we wish to teach and will have students that are under the category "Potential to be Outstanding" (POG). Generally this will mean that we have the well behaved students who are hard working. The workshop will take place in one of the classrooms but we are allowed to go outside providing the weather is good.
Things we need to prepare in advance for the workshop:
- age group
- parental consent/ acknowledgement of the activities you plan to do
- theme of the workshop
- activities
- any equipment needed, including, materials, clothes etc
After realising what we needed, we then spilt into two groups based on our interests and expertise. My group has decided to look at the Holi Festival, which has a colour fight during it and to give the workshop to year 7's. We decided to teach year 7's as they would be the ones most excited and engaging by the topic, as well as having the most freedom and willingness in their young, unmolded, creative mindset.
The Holi festival is a celebration that uses colour, it has a vast historical and contextual ideas, so in order to present this idea we need to keep it simple so the younger years will understand.
The Holi festival is a celebration that uses colour, it has a vast historical and contextual ideas, so in order to present this idea we need to keep it simple so the younger years will understand.
1 http://mylifemylove.com/2015/04/02/why-ive-left-teaching/
2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31518717
3 http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/apr/23/arts-and-design-a-level-fails-to-prepare-students
4 http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/feb/17/arts-and-culture-systematically-removed-from-uk-education-system
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