An Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta

Department of Education and Science

 

Subject Inspection of Art

REPORT

 

Tullamore College

Tullamore,  Co.Offaly

Roll number: 72560U

 

Date of inspection: 25 May, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

Subject inspection report

Subject provision and whole school support

Planning and preparation

Teaching and learning

Assessment

Summary of main findings and recommendations

 

 

 

 

Report on the Quality of Learning and Teaching in Art

 

Subject inspection report

 

This report has been written following a subject inspection in Tullamore College. It presents the findings of an evaluation of the quality of teaching and learning in Art and makes recommendations for the further development of the teaching of this subject in the school. The evaluation was conducted over one day during which the inspector visited classrooms and observed teaching and learning. The inspector interacted with students and teachers, examined students’ work, and had discussions with the teachers. The inspector reviewed school planning documentation and teachers’ written preparation. Following the evaluation visit, the inspector provided oral feedback on the outcomes of the evaluation to the principal and subject teachers. The board of management was given an opportunity to comment in writing on the findings and recommendations of the report; a response was not received from the board.  

 

Subject provision and whole school support

 

The contribution of the art department to the life of the school is valued by management, as are its inputs to the academic, artistic and personal development of individual students. The time allocated to the subject is adequate, and the uptake is healthy. There are two full time art teachers. Two rooms are assigned to the art department. One is large and purpose built, with a kiln and clay area, the other is a home economics sewing room. Art department personnel spend roughly equal time in each room in the course of the timetabled week. The subject is supported by a good budget and there are excellent information and communications technology (ICT) arrangements in one of the art rooms.

 

Students of all abilities and motivation are given access to the subject and the art department also caters for students with special educational needs. Classes are structured through banding. Art is an optional subject. Teachers have been participating in continuous personal development (CPD).

 

There is a safety statement for the school which was reviewed six months ago but in which there is no special section about risks associated with work in the art department. It is recommended that a brief outline of specific risks in the use of art and design tools, materials and specialist equipment be added to it.

 

Planning and preparation

 

A co-ordinator has been appointed for the art department and this role rotates from year to year. Documented planning for art education activities were in place and these provide a good basis for the delivery of courses and programmes. It is recommended that learning aims and objectives in the plans be further developed for both students of highest and lowest aptitudes and motivation. This is to maximise the potential learning opportunities of these two sub-groupings.

 

Individual teachers have their own schemes of work for the classes they teach. There is discussion within the art department to ensure general alignment of approaches and topics. Individual teacher’s strengths and interests become the foundation for delivering the curricula and programmes in art and design. This has resulted in students having the benefit of teachers’ differently developed expertise and knowledge, which adds breadth and balance to the learning opportunities students encounter over time.

 

The art department has formal meeting once each term and meets almost daily on an informal basis. Co-curricular planning is done at subject department meetings and issues regarding competitions, subject promotion, art-focused educational trips and school art awards are jointly planned for over the course of the school year.

 

Preparation, always important in a practical subject, is good. There was a well-managed array of the necessary materials available for the classes inspected.

 

Teaching and learning

 

Overall, excellent delivery of courses and programmes is taking place in the art department. Learning in art and design, and attainment of high standards technically and expressively, are very impressive indeed in Tullamore College.

 

All the classes inspected were very well delivered, pivoting on excellent communication skills and a combination of direct instruction to the whole class and individualised attention. There is a good learning atmosphere in the caring and supportive environment of the art department. The individual strengths and personal characteristics of students are well known and these are the basis of helping the students to develop holistically through Art. The delivery of lessons was underpinned by the advice and direction given to students, which indicated a very complete understanding of what the art media demanded technically, of what the students’ difficulties might be in achieving success in this medium, and how students’ difficulties or challenges could be overcome in the context of the learning activities in question. Students of all motivational levels and artistic aptitudes are being catered for in the way tasks and activities are developed and delivered.

 

Students were given much encouragement, helpful criticism and focused, particularised advice related to the artefact on which they were currently working. It was evident that students were very much at ease with working processes and techniques and had achieved a sense of confidence and purpose. In the work of junior cycle students seen, the type and range of techniques used to express ideas were particularly well matched with the ideas that they strove to express, represent and give physical life to. There was a good balance between the expressive and technical content in these works, particularly in the 3-D modelling.

 

Extremely good clay modelling work was being done in a third-year class. The innate aptitude of students, and their previous attainment, was reflected in the differences in realisation and the varied complexity and ambition of the clay artefacts. There was a real sense of the three-dimensionality and sculptural quality in the majority of the students’ work. Differentiation was seen in the groups’ work, as those students who were not skilled enough for this challenging art form made objects using construction and creative embroidery techniques, and these reflected their attainment of a set of specific skills.

 

In the clay modelling, the ambition of the work and the adherence to a very good technical basis for what were highly individual and expressive statements in this demanding medium, reflects very good teaching in the long term, and good classroom management and focus on goals in the short term. The students had been empowered and motivated and this is extremely praiseworthy. The artefacts reflected a feeling for, and attainment in, 3D that is not frequently encountered in students of this age.  Where most of the artefacts were classical manipulations of form, one piece of conceptual art had been executed in the medium. This was another reflection of the care and completeness with which the students had been brought to this point in the development of their artistic skills and creative powers as individuals.

 

A revision class for sixth year in the history of art was excellently conducted and the content and pitch of the lesson materials delivered was of a high quality. This double class period had various components all most appropriate to the time of the school year and to the topic being covered. Though a revision class very close to the start of the state examinations, it was sufficiently stimulating and rich in information to engage the students in questioning and discussion rather than in the learning off by rote of fact. The quantity and quality of the material added to and refreshed their current knowledge. Students were brought through the information using a PowerPoint presentation, and the visual materials formed the basis for the discussions. Students made their contributions to discussions with good use of relevant technical language and displayed an understanding of concepts.

 

In all the classes visited, students worked diligently and remained on task throughout. Students with special learning needs were catered for also and had, on the evidence of the work in hand and in their folders, achieved progress in art, design and craftwork.

 

All these good pedagogic tendencies lend themselves to development and expansion through an intensified focus on the appreciation of art, architecture and design, for the benefit of students’ holistic artistic development, for all year groups and levels. While there is a consciousness in the art department of the need to develop the students’ cultural sense of the visual arts, this could valuably be taken further by a series of interventions from the very earliest stages of first year right through to Leaving Certificate.

 

Students’ portfolios and artefacts on display revealed that expressive and personalised visual statements were the norm and that there were very few sterile technical exercises or formulaic examination pieces in evidence. This is an extremely good and high quality outcome to the delivery of courses and programmes in visual art and design in the college. On the evidence of the classes inspected, and of artefacts on display and in students’ portfolios, a broad and balanced range of skills have been well developed. All artwork, and particularly the sculpture and 3D craft in the main art room, were displayed very well and are as such a learning resource. There were good examples of well composed, designed, printed and displayed block prints and graphic design artefacts on the sewing room display boards.

 

The main art room is well set up for ICT, with a ceiling-mounted data projector and wall-mounted screen permanently in place. This was seen being used to great advantage for a revision of history and appreciation of art material.

 

In order to develop computer use amongst students of art and design, it is recommended that ICT homework be devised to reiterate class tasks and assignments using the ‘Paint’ programme which is usually standard on PCs. If possible, usage of this programme should be introduced in first year and frequently included in the tasks students are assigned as homework over the entire period of their schooling in art and design.     

 

There were reproductions of art and design imagery and artefacts on display in the art department. This is good practice as it helps to include an element of the wider culture of visual art into the experience of students. In order to encourage students to be proactive in their appreciation of art and design learning, it is recommended that students be assigned as individuals or groups to curate and mount small exhibitions using such reproductions, based on themes or topics either personally chosen or specified by the teachers. It may be necessary to procure additional resources, such as postcards, periodicals and inexpensive art books that can be cut up, to provide visual materials in order to carry out this work. 

  

Assessment

 

A variety of assessment procedures and techniques is in use in the art department and these support student learning and attainment. These include continuous assessment, grading of assignments and homework, invigilated examinations and in-class questioning.

 

Written examinations are held for the history and appreciation of art component of the Leaving Certificate programme. Students show good levels of achievement. Systematic records of students’ during-term, end-of-term, and end-of-year assessment and examination results are maintained. End-of-term and end-of-year results are communicated to parents and guardians. Regular parent-teacher meetings are held and the art department provides discussion, feedback and advice at these in relation to attainment and progress.

 

It is recommended that some element of self-assessment, such as a self-report questionnaire, be included at some stage in the teaching and learning of specific technical, artistic or perceptual skills, techniques and processes. This would be useful and practical in order that learners can give feedback to their teacher on particular issues and to encourage them, in proportion to their aptitude and motivation, to take increased responsibility for their own learning. 

 

Though students perform well in the State Examinations Commission (SEC) examinations, there is much more happening in the art department than examination preparation, as students are, first and foremost, being encouraged to be exploratory and creative.

 

It would be valuable if art department personnel were to collaborate further on assessment modes and criteria, in order to create interlocked, consistent approaches and standards in this aspect of course delivery. Using the learning outcomes as a basis for assessment criteria is highly recommended as it ensures a good fit between learning and assessment. Ways of differentiating assessment standards for individuals of higher motivation and aptitude as well as for students who are very challenged by the basic requirements of the subject could also valuably be explored. It is recommended that assessment criteria be developed, based on the learning outcomes in the planning of the learning experiences that will be delivered to students, and be used in the assessment of their work. 

 

In a whole school context, Tullamore College furnishes parents and guardians with a student development report, independently of attainment in subjects. This contributes to the students’ holistic development as learners and is affirming and motivating for students.

 

Summary of main findings and recommendations

 

The following are the main strengths identified in the evaluation:

 

 

 

As a means of building on these strengths and to address areas for development, the following key recommendations are made:

 

 

 

Post-evaluation meetings were held with the teachers of Art and the principal at the conclusion of the evaluation when the draft findings and recommendations of the evaluation were presented and discussed.

 

 

 

   

Published, January 2010