The focus group with school A’s Yr 11 students:

Today I conducted a focus group with both the yr11 groups from school A as none of them had bothered to fill in the questionnaire as I had repeatedly asked them to do. I was very apprehensive about using this method of data collection as the pilot conducted last term had been such a disaster but the student’s lack of cooperation had left me with little choice. Luckily I was able to conduct the focus group during lesson time which was an advantage as attendance would be much higher than if I had asked they to come back after school but this also meant that I was very conscious of time as I didn’t want this activity to take up too much of their teaching time. To try and get them to think about the areas that the focus group would cover I asked them all to fill in a paper copy of the questionnaire. I could have left it at this but as I had anticipated their answers were short, vague and unhelpful but it did get them to start thinking about their practice, or not as was the case of some students who randomly ticked boxes and gave one word answers when their opinion was asked, to an extent this lack of cooperation was expected of certain students.

I asked teacher X to sit in on the session to help keep the students focused and on task, upon further discussion we decided that teacher X would not be present through out the whole session as I didn’t want the students to feel as thought they were inhibited from saying what they want to say for fear of offending teacher X. I did stress to them at the beginning of the lesson that all the information they gave was solely for the purpose of my inquiry, that this was not an opportunity to unnecessarily criticize the department or any of its teachers but they should feel free to voice their opinions as none of the comments would be taken personally.

The sessions were recorded thus I had each student sign a consent from agreeing to be recorded. During the planning stages of the inquiry I struggled with the ethical implications of involving minors in my inquiry and weather or not they could be considered ‘Gillik competent’ [1] or if I should seek parental consent for their child’s involvement in my inquiry. After much discussion with teacher X it was decided that as their involvement was limited to a focus group and for a select few students some photographs of their work being published in my artefact, all of which would take place on school grounds during school hours thus it was decided that they were mature enough to decide for themselves if they wanted to be involved.

I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the session; the students acted much more maturely than the students involved in the pilot and gave me some very thoughtful and intellectual responses. As the students willingness to cooperate with the task I have set them has been poor up to this point I decided to use this focus group to ask the students the questions from both the questionnaires and the questions I would have asked during the interviews. I was able to do this with these students because I am already very familiar with both their work and their working styles thus I was able to direct question to particular students. Any further information I wish to get from these students I will do during lessons in a much more informal setting.

The main point which I think all students from school A agreed with is they recognise that budgetary constraints are a big issue within this department, many of them said that there have been processes and materials which they would have liked to experiment with but have not because the department is not in a position to supply it for them and they do not have sufficient funds to buy it themselves. Many of them said that their choice of material to use was based on if it was readily available in the department, thus compromising their work; hence why you will notice that the majority of the student’s work from school A has been made predominantly from chalk, charcoal and acrylic paint. I believe, as does teacher X that it is unfair that we ask the student to supply so much of their own materials especially as the school is located in an are of east London which would not be considered affluent, where it is valid to make the assumption that the majority of parents and carers of students from this school do not have a lot of spare money to be spending on expensive art supplies. During the focus group a student reminded me of an occasion last term where her work was looking into faces and how they differ between races, she did a number of casts using mod rock then wished to experiment with alginate, which is quite a natural progression when looking at casting, unfortunately school A did not have any thus she was asked to supply it herself. She was only able to buy one 500g bag as it is very expensive and unfortunately that was not enough to make a full face cast and as a result decided to take the project in another way again using the materials available in the department. The work that she produced was still of a high standard but was nowhere near as interesting as what she was making previously a fact which she had picked up on which made her very disheartened and her work lacked the focus and drive which it had before.

In the last two years school A has noticed a marked drop in students opting to take art at GCSE and I strongly believe that one of the reasons for this is because it will cost the student more to take art than it would to take another subject such as History. Some will argue that this is good, it makes them more aware of some of the expenses they will face if they plan to study art past A-level, and I have blogged previously how difficult I found my foundation year because I had been spoilt at school but if it reaches the point where students are being put off the subject for financial reasons then something is wrong. Before starting the GCSE course we expect all students to have:

·         A scrap book

·         A pad of good quality cartridge paper,

·         A pair of scissors,

·         A glue stick,

·         Black gel pen, at least two,

·         A range of different graded pencils,

·         A set of paint brushes,

·         Acrylic paints, primary colours + black and white,

·         White Chalk,

·         Charcoal,

·         A set of oils pastels,

·         Colouring pencils,

·         An A2 portfolio.

Now this might seam like a lot but if it is looked after much of the stuff will last the students longer than the duration of the course and school A is not asking them to buy the highest quality materials, all of these items can be found in a pound shop or other such discount stores but in a school where a third of their students are on free school meals (which means that these students come from such a low income family that the government has decided that their parents or carers do not have to pay for any of their children’s school meals) this ‘small’ amount could make it impossible for them to study this subject. In school A the only other subject which requires such a financial commitment is Food technology and they have also noticed a decline in numbers because of the expense. In the academic year 2010-11 school A had 48 of their 168 yr11 pupils on free school meals (FSM) 10 of these students took art (27 pupils in total were entered for the exam) and only 5 of these students got a C grade or above. The overall statistics for Art were:

Now I do not want to imply that the only reason why these pupils did badly was because of a lack of funds and limited materials as with a number of the students their poor results was a result of their own lack of commitment to the course, but as I have found from the focus group with the current yr11’s, the constant inability to make the work that they want to make because of financial issues is disheartening and eventually they get to the point where they don’t even bother to think of more exciting outcomes because they know that they wont be possible.

Another point which all the students seamed to agree with is they didn’t think that art was seen as a priority within the school. At this stage of their academic career they have a lot pressure on them to succeed and to take on extra tutoring and after school work to ensure that this happens. Attendance at least one after school club a week is considered mandatory if you studying art, a point which is made clear to the students before they opt to take the subject in yr9 but as they reach yr11 the students are told that their focus should be on the core subjects and thus their extra curricular time should be spent in core subject after school clubs. On occasions students have been removed from Art lessons to take extra tutoring in core subjects. Now how can we expect the students to see the importance of this subject if they are constantly being told by other members of staff that it is not important?  

I do not anticipate that this inquiry will change schools’ opinion of the creative arts subjects; especially with the possible introduction of the English Baccalaureate where in an element of creative arts within the syllabus will not be mandatory. Thus I propose that my artefact will suggest ways that high grade, experimental work can be achieved whilst working within a very limited budget.     

---

[1] [1] ‘In 1986, the House of Lords decided in the case of Gillick v West Norfolk and Wishbech Area Health Authority that parental rights are not absolute rights. They are rights exercised by parents on the behalf of children too young to exercise them for themselves. The case concerned a child’s rights to consent to medical treatment without the parents’ knowledge. Lord Fraser said that the degree of parental control varied according to the child’s understanding and intelligence.  [Doyle,D. (2007) ‘Trans-disciplinary inquiry- research with rather then research on,’ in an Ethical Approach to Practitioners Research: Dealing with Issues and Dilemmas in Action Research, A. Campbell and S. Groundwater-Smith, Eds. Evanston, IL: Routledge.] 

Initial Ideas for Artefact:

The artefact will be a guide for use by teachers who wish to further encourage student to experiment with processes and materials within their work. It will be aimed at GCSE level student as my finding through conducting my inquiry have shown that if students are prepared correctly at GCSE for the work load and standards expected of them at A-level then the transition will be a smooth one. I think one of the main reasons why students in our borough struggle with A-level, not only in art but subject wide is because none of our secondary schools teach A-level, so the students cannot see on a daily basis what is expected of you at this level of study. This also allows them to be lulled into the idea that yr11 is the end of school because if they choose to go on to study A-level they will have to move schools. I believe this can give them an arrogant attitude, thinking that they are at the top of the pecking order. In many cases I think it would be beneficial for them to have older students to keep them in check. By the time you get to the end of your A-level career the students are that little bit older and have a more mature approach to their studies, and realise that yes this is the end of this stage but are only at the beginning of their lives and the next stages are determined by how successfully this stage is completed.

 I have found through investigating two other schools which do teach A-level, that the yr11 students have a much more mature approach to their learning and that their work tend to be more adventurous because they have the older years to inspire them and push them to create more interesting work. Unfortunately I do not anticipate being able to change local government’s opinion on this subject thus I am creating this artefact to try and better prepare GCSE students who might not be able to benefit from A-level students influences, for the standard of work that is expected of them at A-level. Experimentation in your work is considered a key a key factor at both stages; it is one of the assessment objectives and to gain a top grade. Candidates must demonstrate that they have experimented with ‘a wide range of appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, by recognising and exploiting emerging possibilities. Develop skills proficiently, by recognising, reviewing and refining potential ideas as work in progresses.’ AQA GCE Art and Design Specification 2009/2010 Version 2.3. Thus the aim of this artefact will be to demonstrate to teachers how active experimentation with processes and materials improves a student’s work. To do this I propose a project aimed at GCSE students while they are creating their personal portfolio, the focus of the project will be on the exploration of the many different routes to a personal response to the brief rather than the emphasis being on the aesthetic quality of the final outcome. The project will also be presented to the students in a slightly different way to how I have seen other art teachers introduce a new project topic in that it will initiate with a brief with a problem that has to be solved or issues that they have to address and whilst doing so they have to meet certain criteria which the brief has laid out. To be most effective for their studies I believe that the project should be completed early in yr10 so that they learn as early on in the course as possible the magnitude of work that is expected of you and have the ability to work independently. Whilst conducting my inquiry through gathering information from my three chosen art departments I observed that teachers want to encourage their students to branch out and explore their own creative direction but given too much freedom and the students can quickly become overwhelmed being unsure which direction to choose causing their work to become stagnant and often resorting in them following another student rather then exploring an area which they are interested in. Every students studying a different thing does make the teachers role more challenging as they have to keep on top of lots of different areas of study and require a very broad subject knowledge in order to be able to advise all of the students, but this I believe is key to being a good art teacher an area which teacher B has shown great strength in. By presenting the students with a project such as this it encourages them to work independently and explore their own interests whilst also giving them parameters to work within so that the students know that their work is heading in the right direction, also giving the gifted and talented (G&T) students the opportunity to push theses boundaries and really experiment with processes and materials. I believe that by completing a project like this at the start of the GCSE course the students will not only learn the structure that future projects should take but give them the confidence to work independently.

The form of the artefact will be a book, the introduction outlining in brief what I have mentioned here, why I am creating this book and what I hope to achieve by doing this. Chapter 1 will be the project brief, the brief that I write will be quite specific outlining how I as a teacher would present the project to my students and what would be my starting point but I will also outline how it could be altered to accommodate different school’s needs. As the inquiry has shown art departments nation wide have different budgetary restrictions and this does have an effect on the type of work that their students make as a result schools may wish to adapt the brief to try and encourage students to experiment with processes which other schools might not be able to consider. Teachers might also wish to adapt the brief to better suit their preferred discipline, as I am a sculptor a lot of my suggested areas for experimentation will be three dimensional ones. A drawer and painter might have some different ideas. This project will also try to encourage teachers to have more lessons where individual skills are taught and this should be worked into the brief’s timetable so that we are not only asking the students to work independently but equipping them with the tool to do so and build on these skills.

The second chapter will focus on work that I have seen within the three schools involved in the inquiry where I have felt the student has experimented with a variety of processes or used materials in an unconventional way. It shall also look at practitioners who have incorporated theses elements into their work successfully and what impact this has had on their work. All of these will act as inspiration and starting points for the teachers to give to the students.

The final chapter will summarise what I would expect from my students in the allocated time frame.

Time to change my tactics:

I completed my questionnaires about three weeks ago and sent the links off to the relevant teachers asking them to distribute them to their students. I was always a little apprehensive about this method of data collection as I know it is difficult enough to get the students to complete tasks which are mandatory for their course let alone things which are optional. I blogged about a week ago voicing these concerns and it was suggested that I should consider giving the students some sort of incentive for completing it, a prize for one of the students which seems in theory to be a good idea but upon discussions with other members of staff I learnt that this might not be so feasible. As a member of staff I am not allowed to give students anything, any prises must be awarded to them through the correct school channels i.e. an assembly or prize giving and as the schools involvement in the inquiry is limited to the art department this would prove to be quite difficult. Now that we are a few weeks into the collection time the general response has been good from all participant except the student I work with. I have one response and that one was useless as the student filled in the first question, what is your name and the skipped the rest. I have done everything I can think of to try and get them to complete it but still they refuse. I have asked them nicely; I have shouted at them, I have gotten the head f the department to shout at them I have pestered them about it every time I have seen them about I have even set time aside in the lessons for them to in turn go onto a computer to complete it, an idea which I had to abandon because they were all surfing the web and playing games. So now I admit defeat! This data collection method will not work with these students so I have to come up with another strategy.  It has been agreed with the head of the department that next week one of their lessons will be used to conduct a focus group where I will ask the students the questionnaire questions and record their responses. I have asked the department head to sit in on the focus group to try and stop it from erupting into a shouting match like it did when I conducted my pilot focus group. I am slightly concerned about them talking over each other and then struggling to hear what any of them were saying when playing back the recording. To try and avoid this I am going to try to keep a very calm atmosphere, direct questions to individuals and then calling on people in tern to comment on their response rather than asking the questions to the group. I also plan to be very strict with them and remove from the group any person who attempts to intentionally disrupt it. The only possible problem with this tactic is I might end up with more students out of the focus group than in but I believe that this will be the most effective way of getting the information from the students.

To an extent I am lucky that I am having these issues with the students in my school and not one of my comparative schools. Had it have been on of the other schools I would have possibly had to make an extra trip to that school which would be almost impossible as I work full time in a school and to do this I would have to miss an extra day of work or I would have to consider not using this school in my inquiry. At least as it is I can come up with alternative approaches without majorly affecting my schedule.

    

Literary review:

After reading the summary of a report entitled ‘Arts in the Secondary Schools: Effects and Effectiveness’ (Harland, Kinder, Lord et all) I felt compelled to write this review. Their research question was ‘Does the involvement in the arts in secondary school boost general academic performance?’ The study was conducted over several years performing case studies on ‘five secondary schools in the United Kingdom with strong arts reputations’ and examining the GCSE results of over twenty seven thousand students from 152.  The qualitive information collected from the case studies was primarily based on students own opinions and the quantative data based on the exam results.

When starting to read this report I saw a lot of similarities to my own inquiry which sparked my attention, upon further reading element of their research continued to crop up which didn’t sit right with me. Firstly they state that they reviewed results for 27,607 students from 152 schools and distributed questionnaires to 2,269 students in 22 schools. Now the report does not make this clear but from these numbers I can assume that their conclusions have been based on all yr 11 students and not just those who have opted to take one of the creative arts subjects for GCSE.  Thus some of the questionnaire answers have come from students who might not have studied an arts subject for nearly two years; surely this data will skew the results. Student opinion was strongly considered when drawing their conclusions and even though students’ opinions are very useful I do not think I would have based my findings primarily on these opinions as at this age they are not always able to see how subjects can benefit each other, plus there is a strong chance that their opinions have been based more on an emotional response than fact for example a students experience with a particular teacher might sway their responses.

During the first module I made an entry in my in my journal commenting on how frustrating I was finding it trying to get the yr10 students to take the knowledge that they had learned in History about the second world war and the years that immediately followed and using it to draw conclusions about the social and economical state of American as a reason for the emergence of the pop art movement. When it was explained to they could understand this link but unless it was pointed out for them they would not make use of the knowledge they had learned in other subjects. Now this clearly is not because one subject does not help with the understanding of the other subject as I do not believe that anybody could dispute that an understanding of certain historical events will help you to understand the reasoning behind certain art movement rather I believe it is because teachers do not make these cross curriculum connections more obvious to the students. I am aware that this is something teachers should be doing as I have noticed them adding it into their lesson plans when they are undergoing lesson observation but then forget about it the rest of the time. I believe that highlighting these links is vital to improve the students overall understanding. At the moment I believe that there is too much of a barrier between subjects too often have I heard students make comments like I love Drama but hate English and it is not explained to them that the two are intricately linked, one could not be without the other.

The study concluded that ‘no relationship existed between studying the arts in secondary school and performance on national exams.’ These findings were unlike the conclusions drawn from similar investigations conducted in schools in the United Sates, their reasoning for this was ‘perhaps in the United States academically strong students are advised to study the arts, while in the United Kingdom, academically strong students are not encouraged to study the arts.’ From my experience of working in a secondary school I believe that this is the case and to further stigmatise the subjects, it is reviewed by other subject teachers as an ‘easy option’ and this belief filters down to the student. In the opinion of someone who has not only studied the subject for over a decade and taught it, I can confirm that this is not the case. The standard of analytical writing on not only their own work but also the works of others is expected to be of as high a calibre as would be expected in an English exam. This subject also asks you to view and think about things in a different way, pieces of work are not merely made for the sake of making them; they have more meaning or depth behind them. This is not always obvious and different people might have conflicting views on the meaning of a piece, but we ask the student to form an intelligent, independent opinion. How is this dissimilar to what they are asked to do in English with literature and poetry, and how could having more practice at thinking and writing in this way not improve your English level?

To study art at any level takes a huge amount of self discipline and self motivation, something which teenagers are not always renowned for, this is also the case with the other arts but I speak mainly about the study of fine art as this is where my expertise lays. If students do not have a certain level of self motivation and discipline they will not be successful on this course as there are not enough taught hours scheduled on the timetable to get the work done, this is unique to this subject and is understood by most of the students early on in the course and I struggle to see how developing the skill of independent learning could not be beneficial in the study of all other subjects especially when it comes to prioritising revision.

This study has also stated that most of their qualitive data had been collected from schools with strong arts reputation; I believe that this choice of screening was a mistake, how can you comment on the effectiveness of a subject if you only look at the top end and do not take a cross section of schools? Theses findings do not show an accurate depiction of the whole country. In spite of the fact that state secondary schools cannot restrict entry due to academic performance exemplar schools tend to attract exemplar pupils meaning the influence of the arts might not have such an obvious effect on the performance academically as it would if you were to look at an underachieving school. The school I currently work in would be considered an oversubscribed, under achieving inter city school and it is clear how much the study of art helps their literacy level and general use of vocabulary, this might not be the case of all such schools but I believe that other school demographics should have been taken into consideration when collecting their data. This is why I plan to investigate three contrasting schools; my schools will differ in location, pupil demographic and budgetary constraints so that I know that if any trends do emerge I could assume that these trends might reflect most schools nation wide.

In conclusion I believe that this investigation carried out to highlight the effectiveness of the teaching of the arts in secondary schools was flawed to the point that I do not believe that the conclusions that they have drawn effectively reflect the overall teaching of the arts in secondary schools in the UK. Further more I believe that the research question ‘does the involvement in the arts in secondary school boost general academic performance’ is rather a redundant one as we have already established that there are different learning styles, some people learn better with visual aids and working problems out through trail and error, while others learn best in a more tradition learning environment  of reading and memorising, thus the focus should be how can we as teachers be more creative with our teaching styles and incorporate some of the methods used in teaching the arts and other practical subjects to accommodate the different learning styles we will encounter.

References:

• Harland. J, Kinder. K, Lord. P, Scott. A, Schagen. I, Haynes. J, Cusworth. L, White. R and Paola. R, (October 2000) ‘Arts Education in Secondary School: Effects and Effectiveness’ The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), Berkshire, UK.

Revised introduction

I started to write the first draft of my inquiry a couple of weeks ago then following reading Mark’s blog i thought I would write a summery of the inquiry to give to the participants so that they fully understood what they were agreeing to be involved in but as I wrote it I found myself writing another draft of the introduction. I think this draft is more concise and more importantly is within the word count, I think it also outlines the inquiry enough to also use as information for the participants.

Working title: ‘Does active experimentation with processes and materials give a developing artist a firmer understanding of their professional practice? How can this concept be developed to enhance the teaching of the subject?’

This inquiry will take the form of an in depth investigation into the study and teaching of art at key stage 4 and 5, comparing three contrasting art departments and identifying their different practices and constraints which are put upon them. The participant’s roll as either as a current student or an art teacher will be to answer a questionnaire, be involved in interviews conducted by me and be a part of observed lessons. As the period of time during which I will be collecting the information will be relatively short (collection time will run from the beginning of the michilmas term to two weeks into the second half of that term) the participants’ involvement will not be extensive which means that their studies or jobs should not too disrupted. The inquiry will mainly be qualitive based on my observations from the information collected the opinions of the students involved and what I have learnt from the previous modules and previous two years at my current school.

My main aim is to investigate how students experiment with processes and materials and how this impacts the work that they make. To complete the inquiry an in depth investigation will be conducted upon three contrasting art departments. The three schools differ in location, pupil demographics and departmental budgets one of the schools is the secondary school which I currently work in thus this department will act as the base from which my comparisons are drawn. By looking into the children’s experiences and comparing and contrasting the different teaching styles both within the department and between the schools I believe I will have a strong overview of how the subject should be successfully taught.

Through this investigation my inquiry plans to address the following question: What further measures can be implemented in the classroom to further encourage students to experiment with a variety of processes and materials? How do art students manage the transition from the study of GCSE to A-level? What constraints are put on art departments by both the school and outside influences and how might these constraints influence the work made by their students? How do art teachers and their support staff help to foster creativity? Finally with talks of the government changing the curriculum to the English baccalaureate (E-bac) what is the future for this subject?

Upon completion of this inquiry a document will be made outlining my findings and explaining how the information gathered can be translated into a teaching and learning environment. This document will act as an aid for student teachers and newly qualified teacher (NQT) who wish to expand their knowledge of teaching the subject and as a guide for how creativity and methods of experimentation can be encouraged in the classroom.  

This line of inquiry has been chosen as not only is it relevant to the work that I am doing now in a secondary school art department but I am also hoping that it will help me to gain a place on a graduate teacher training course. 

Inquiry introduction first draft

Working title: ‘Does active experimentation with processes and materials give a developing artist a firmer understanding of their professional practice? How can this concept be developed to enhance the teaching of the subject?’

Introduction:

This inquiry plans to examine the teaching of art at key stage 4 and 5 focusing on the progression of art students from GCSE and A-level. I predict that the encouragement of active experimentation will improve both the quality of the students work and their understanding of the subject. This theory will be investigated by exploring the following key issues: How do students cope with the transition between GCSE and A-level? What constraints are put on art departments by both the school and outside influences and how do these constraints influence the work made by the students? How can this idea be effectively translated into a teaching and learning environment?  How do art teachers help to foster the different learning styles within the class room? Finally where do the creative arts sit within the curriculum and what is the possible future for the subject?

To complete the inquiry an in depth investigation will be conducted upon three contrasting art departments. The three schools differ in location pupil demographics and departmental budgets one of the schools is the secondary school which I currently work in thus this department will act as the base from which my comparisons are drawn. By looking into the children’s experiences and comparing and contrasting the different teaching styles both within the department and between the schools I believe I will have a strong overview of how the subject should be successfully taught.

 The information will be gathered during the first half of the autumn which is a relatively short period of time and a number of the students will be at the start of their course so many of them will not have had much time to reflect on the course which will have both it’s advantages and disadvantages in that their experiences from their previous course, be it GCSE or AS-level will be fresh in their mind, but on the other hand they might not fully understand what the course entails. Thus I will also be relying on some of my prior knowledge which I have gained through the last two years of working in my current department. For the purpose of this inquiry I will be investigating the study of Art and design with the endorsement of fine art only Edexcel defines fine art as ‘work which is produced as a outcome of students’ personal experiences, rather than that which is created exclusively for a practical function or that which is the outcome of a tightly prescribed brief’ Edexcel GCSE specification 2008

From reading through a number of exam boards specifications for both GCSE and A-level it has become apparent that they do stress the importance of experimentation both as a way to improve their knowledge of different techniques and to learn trough their mistakes thus helping to form their individual artistic identity, a concept which is important if the students choose to study A-level. This inquiry plans to highlight how such experimentation is encouraged and where further encouragement can be introduced.

Upon completion of this course I plan to go on to do initial teacher training, I believe that this inquiry will give me a better understanding of how the subject is taught, how the different course specifications can be interpreted and what is makes a competent art teacher. The completion of this inquiry will result in a guide for people such as myself who are looking to enter the teaching profession or newly qualified teachers to demonstrate how experimentation can be encouraged in the classroom and how this benefits the students.

questionnaire issues

So I have began to think about my questionnaires, what questions I need to ask to ensure that I get all the information I need and how am I going to distribute these questionnaires? Already I have come across a few major issues firstly I am now unsure if a survey is the best research tool to use on this occasion as many of the questions I wish to as could have some quite long winded answers and I am concerned that the students will not give me as much written information as they would if they were to answer verbally. I do not want to interview each student as it will be very time consuming and I wanted to use the survey as a screening process to select which students I wish to interview. I think I am going to have to stick to this method of data collection with the knowledge that I might have to use another method is a large number of the students choose to not to answer the questionnaire properly.

Another issue I have thought of is how I distribute the questionnaires? Ideally I would like to use Survey Monkey give the students the link and ask them to complete the questionnaire but I am concerned how many of them will actually do it. I know that this is a risk you take when using a questionnaire but I think the risk is higher when you ask school students to do something for school which is not mandatory. I can insist that the students that I teach fill them in during class time but I cannot expect other teacher to do the same. I plan to discuss this matter with the head of the department to see if he has any suggestions. 

Reflections on Research Tools:

Following my research into the possible tools to use for my inquiry I can conclude that I plan to use lesson observations, surveys/questionnaires and interviews. I had hope to use focus groups to get the three age groups together to discuss their thought on the course but upon conducting a pilot focus group the possible problems with this research tool became apparent. The pilot involved students in the current year 11 with that hear of the department acting as the gatekeeper. This is a trying group at the best of times and do not reflect the average standard of students in this art department. The majority of them have a very immature attitude which was very apparent in this discussion. It started off well, I asked them to reflect on their experiences on the GCSE course and encouraged them to talk about any regrets they might have. A common theme amongst them was they wished that they worked harder in yr10 to take some of the pressure off of them in yr11 and would have liked to have completed their coursework earlier so that they could have gotten unit 2, the externally set assignment finished earlier. All of this would be very useful for the current yr10’s to hear as this is something we stress to them constantly. Unfortunately they very quickly went off topic and the discussion erupted into an argument with the less outgoing and confident students getting lost in shouting. On a number of occasions the teacher and I tried to calm them down and get them back on topic with little success. I think one of the main problems with this group is there are a lot of loud and aggressive characters who tend to dominate situation. I was disappointed with the outcome as I feel that it would be beneficial for the younger years to learn of the older groups experiences and hopefully try to avoid making the same mistakes as them but in the case of this pilot I think there would be little useful information anybody could take from this particular focus group. I am not ruling out this tool entirely but as it is time consuming and the time that I can spend with the students is limited I am unsure how useful it will be.

Before conducting the survey pilot I had planned to use this tool as one of the ways of communicating with some of our current yr11 students who are leaving at the end of this year but I found that to get the information I would like from the students would be very time consuming using this tool. Many of the questions which I had planned to ask are open questions which would require a lengthy answer. I my experience of dealing with students of this age is if the work is not mandatory a massive amount of thought will not go into it. I fear that I might end up with over simplified answers which will not give me the incite I desire, but if you were to ask them this question verbally you would get a much more in depth response. This method could also prove to be very time consuming for the students and I in no way want their involvement in my inquiry to encroach on their time spent on their school work. As a result the surveys/questionnaires will be used to gather quantative data.   

Critical Reflection and Summary: Digital Portfolio

Throughout this last module I have been attempting to solidify my position within my current practice by creating a proposal for an inquiry which will address some of the key issues that I have identified in my current work place. The inquiry plans to investigate the progression of pupils studying art and design form GCSE to A-level. Looking in Particular at how active experimentation with processes and materials can improve students overall understanding of the subject and the work that they produce. From working in a secondary school art department for just over a year I have noticed that the step from GCES and AS-level is quite a big one and a number of students struggle when making this transition. This is something that I also found when studying A-level art, the realisation that art is not necessarily only about having an aesthetically pleasing outcome but thinking creatively allowed me to succeed. The aim of this inquiry is to encourage students to work in this way.

The main focus of this module has been to develop this line of inquiry and think about how I plan to execute the inquiry in a way that will be both advantageous to the students and teacher who wish to approach the syllabus in this way. Experimentation is one of the key concepts and assessment criteria for GCSE, AS-level and A-level art. The means by which I plan to execute this inquiry have been outline in the inquiry proposal. Even before reading the module readers I had quite specific ideas about what I wanted the inquiry to be based on, I knew that I wanted to investigate the transition of students from GCSE to A-Level and incorporate this with my interest in experimenting with materials and processes. In hindsight I think that this was not the best approach as I found myself creating questions which would fit into what I wanted my line of inquiry to be rather than identifying already existing issues within my work place and my practice. At this point I was also seeing myself in two different fields, a practicing artist and a trainee teacher, I wanted to be seen primarily as an artist rather then an educator evidence of this can be seen in my initial award title rational (appendix A). As a result my inquiry developed two very distinct lines of inquiry a problem which was only resolved later in the module following further research.  

In the first module (3002) the concept of reflection was introduced, something which I though I already did, which to an extent was true but the introduction of the reflective diary into my working life really helped me with some very difficult situations which in turn meant that I handled the situations much more effectively when they next arose. When blogging about this I found that many other students were having similar problems and by sharing our experiences and advising each other I learnt coping techniques which I would not have thought of on my own (appendix B). The reflective diary will be key in the gathering of information for the inquiry as I will be observing a number of classes and as I have learnt form using this technique my initial thoughts are not always right, or the most unbiased of opinions as my reactions will be based on emotions rather then considered thought, as outlined in one of my blog posts this inquiry will strive to be as unbiased as possible (appendix C).

Throughout this module the majority of my time was spent looking into ethical implications which might arise when conducting this inquiry. I found this section very interesting and learnt a huge amount. Once again I though I had a firm understanding of the ethical issues that would have to be taken into consideration when conducting this inquiry as ethics and child safeguarding is a topic often discussed in staff meetings and inset days. What I had not taken in to consideration was if I was going to ask students to experiment with different and unconventional materials, what ethical issues have arisen when other artists have done this (appendix D)? Obviously I was not expecting the students to go to some of the extremes mentioned in appendix 4 but it is important for me as an educator to make them aware of these issues.

I had assumed that because my inquiry would involve minors I would have to get parental consent for the students to be involved in the inquiry, upon reading the reader I learnt of a term ‘Gillick’ (appendix E) whereby if a minor can be considered ‘Gillick’ competent they should be allowed to decide for themselves if they wish to be involved in the inquiry. This was something which I thought about for a while and in the end for reasons outlined in appendix E I decided to not grant any of the students involved in this inquiry this option as if I was not going to allow students from one school this right this should be the same with the other two schools. One of the three schools involved in this inquiry is an independent boarding school; I was concerned that obtaining parental consent for these students could prove to be lengthy processes as pupils only see their parents at half term and holidays. Upon speaking to the head of the art department I discovered that all pupils in such schools are in Loco parentis which means parental consent is not required for these students as the staff members/ housemasters can make the decision in absence of their parents.

During this time we were asked to set up a Special Interest Group (SIG) to discuss issues specific to your line of inquiry. I feel that I did not engage with my group as much as I could have because I felt that my issues and input was not as relevant to the other members of the group as I was the only fine artist. I tried to make my views relevant to all creative arts subjects and to talk about education in general but upon reading their posts, in particular the students looking at dance education I got the impression that the route that they take to become a teacher is very different to what I am experiencing, for example I posted a message about residual and tracking grades which I am still finding very confusing (appendix F) and I got he impression that this is not something that the other members in the group have had to deal with. I feel that my interaction with my SIG is an area that I have to work on more and believe could be useful throughout the inquiry. Another possible reason for why I have not engaged with the group as much as I could have is because I have a very good relationship with two of the art directors from the schools I am investigating, one of which I work with every day and thus I have been relying heavily on their knowledge when I have a question rather then asking the group.  

The final section of the module looked at research tools and asked us to start to think about which tools we would use to gather information for our inquiry. I was open to ideas from the outset as all of my previous projects has only involved researching literature and has never involved human subjects and thus was interested to try out the different methods. I knew that I wanted to use interviews as I thought that this would be the most effective way to gain information form individuals, and where students were concerned would put them in an environment where they did not feel like they would be pressured or scrutinised by their peers. What I did not take into consideration was how long they could take, my pilot interview took up to and in some cases in excess of 15 minutes and in my opinion was very successful but that is a long time if you are asking a teacher to excuse a pupil from a lesson. Especially seeing as the main point that I have tried to stress to the heads of the departments is I will put no extra strain on their departments and will disrupt their normal lessons as little as possible. Lesson observations are a very convenient tool for me to use as I am involved in many of the lessons already but as previously mentioned I will have to be weary of being emotional and having pre conceived ideas.

I had hoped to use focus groups as a way of getting the students together to talk about their experiences and allowing them to bounce ideas off of one another but as show in my pilot focus group (appendix G) I feel that this is not an effective way of gathering information in the school that I conducted the pilot on and I would like the collection of information to be uniformed across the three school.

In conclusion this module has highlighted many areas of consideration which I had not factored in when first thinking about this inquiry. I believe that I have addressed all of the issues that have arisen and I am in a position to conduct a informed inquiry. In spite of this before I start collecting information from students in September I feel more research into the teaching of the subject and the differences and similarities in the exam boards need to be completed.
Appendix A:  http://stephiemonty.blogspot.com/2011/03/award-title-rational.html
Appendix B: http://stephiemonty.blogspot.com/2010/10/reflective-journal.html
Appendix C:http://stephiemonty.blogspot.com/2011/03/ethical-issues-in-practice-of-art.html
Appendix D:http://stephiemonty.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-i-plan-to-overcome-ethical-issues.html
Appendix E: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=145821545478191&topic=82
Appendix F: http://stephiemonty.blogspot.com/2011/05/reflections-on-research-tools_04.html

Reflections on Research Tools:

Following my research into the possible tools to use for my inquiry I can conclude that I plan to use lesson observations, surveys/questionnaires and interviews. I had hope to use focus groups to get the three age groups together to discuss their thought on the course but upon conducting a pilot focus group the possible problems with this research tool became apparent. The pilot involved students in the current year 11 with that hear of the department acting as the gatekeeper. This is a trying group at the best of times and do not reflect the average standard of students in this art department. The majority of them have a very immature attitude which was very apparent in this discussion. It started off well, I asked them to reflect on their experiences on the GCSE course and encouraged them to talk about any regrets they might have. A common theme amongst them was they wished that they worked harder in yr10 to take some of the pressure off of them in yr11 and would have liked to have completed their coursework earlier so that they could have gotten unit 2, the externally set assignment finished earlier. All of this would be very useful for the current yr10’s to hear as this is something we stress to them constantly. Unfortunately they very quickly went off topic and the discussion erupted into an argument with the less outgoing and confident students getting lost in shouting. On a number of occasions the teacher and I tried to calm them down and get them back on topic with little success. I think one of the main problems with this group is there are a lot of loud and aggressive characters who tend to dominate situation. I was disappointed with the outcome as I feel that it would be beneficial for the younger years to learn of the older groups experiences and hopefully try to avoid making the same mistakes as them but in the case of this pilot I think there would be little useful information anybody could take from this particular focus group. I am not ruling out this tool entirely but as it is time consuming and the time that I can spend with the students is limited I am unsure how useful it will be.

Before conducting the survey pilot I had planned to use this tool as one of the ways of communicating with some of our current yr11 students who are leaving at the end of this year but I found that to get the information I would like from the students would be very time consuming using this tool. Many of the questions which I had planned to ask are open questions which would require a lengthy answer. I my experience of dealing with students of this age is if the work is not mandatory a massive amount of thought will not go into it. I fear that I might end up with over simplified answers which will not give me the incite I desire, but if you were to ask them this question verbally you would get a much more in depth response. This method could also prove to be very time consuming for the students and I in no way want their involvement in my inquiry to encroach on their time spent on their school work. As a result the surveys/questionnaires will be used to gather quantative data.   

A Critical Review of ‘Thinking Outside and on the Box: Creativity and Inquiry in Art Practice’ by Julia Marshall.

This article is looking into creative learning processes, how and what students learn from creative arts projects. Marshall states in her opening paragraph states that the ‘learning that takes place in art practice also is receiving significant attention. The concurrent emphases on creativity and learning in art education challenge teachers to foster the two together’. (Marshall 2005)  This is an area that I have been researching through out the module, art is as academic a subject as any other; the contextual side of the subject hold as much importance as the practical. The focus of her article is on theories of creative stages, with particular reference to Wallas and how these stages related to a specific project she was working on with a group of students in a high school in San Francisco studying art 101. This was the first issue that I had with the article, at no point did she state what age group these students were, this would be clear to a person with an understanding of the American school system but if you don’t them you would have to estimate their ages from the photographs, you also have no idea of how much artistic training they have previously had.

I found the overall content of the article quite basic, she gives a very brief overview of the project that the students are undertaking but not enough to fully understand the project or it’s purpose. Marshall states at the start of the article that whilst doing this project she would be using two students for a case study, but I did not see the purpose of this as she very briefly mentions the students work and their reflections on the project but in my opinion not enough to warrant the case study. There was no real in site into their work and at no point did you get the feeling that the reader is actually gaining anything from knowing this all it really shows the reader is this is insider research and not hypothetical. She could have more effectively given and overview of the project by mentioning areas where some or all of her students struggled or excelled. Stage nine is known as ‘reflection’ Marshall suggests that the teacher, at this point ask the students what they have learnt. Many students spoke of learning to use tools, researching and the design process, I am sure that they learnt much more than this. In my experience if the teacher states from the out set what they expect the students to learn i.e. The proper use of tools and processes then when students are asked to reflect on the project then the teacher will get a much more personal response on their individual projects.

In her article Marshall said that she was very careful to give the student a clear assignment whilst still leaving them wide parameters to experiment. I believe that giving students creative freedom is hugely important, one of the key concepts of art is to be creative, to come up with your own solutions to a problem or to express your opinion. If the parameters are very constrictive it defeats the point of it being a creative subject. When explaining the assignment Marshall showed the student a finished prototype, personally I don’t think this is the best approach at the beginning of a project. I believe that that idea will push them all in one direction. Imagine some one was asking you to think of something, anything in the world but was holding a banana in front of your eyes do you think you could think of anything else? Give the students examples of multiple initial ideas yes but don’t show them your outcome at the start.

The article is base around Wallas’ theory of creative stages which as she mentions has been updated by a number of other theorists but at no point mentions any of them by name or how they have elaborated on Wallas’ theory. This would have been useful for readers who wish to research this topic further.

I think she was trying to much to try and fit the stages of the project into the theory of creative stages and not allowing it to grow organically. Another possible way of approaching this inquiry would have been to get the students to complete the project then ask them to say how their project followed the ten stages. Not only would this give the researcher much more information to base their inquiry on but would also make the students aware of the stages and encourage them to reflect upon a project once it has been completed. The style of writing is very factual, short sentences and headed paragraphs which can break up the flow of the piece. In this occasion I felt that it stopped her from explaining things fully she focused more on what happened when then how it happened and why. In our art classes we try and encourage our students to draw on personal experiences as much as possible, we believe that by doing this the student will have a unique in site into the project and a much firmer understanding of it. Is this why Eric chose to look at the academic pressure that students are under? Does he feel this pressure and is making this product based on personal experiences or is he approaching this project as a outsider? How has either influenced his outcome?  As the age of the students is unknown it is difficult to gage how much these influences should have been taken into consideration.

Emphasising the learning aspect of creative subjects is very important and something which I plan to investigate at length in my inquiry but I think one needs to emphasise not only the range of skills that is learnt but that a creative outcome is a personal response thus each student learns something different from a project. The article contained a lot of useful information particularly for me and my line of inquiry but the way that it was written gave the indication that she had her conclusion before starting the inquiry and was trying to fit the project with the high school students into what she already knew to be true.

Delicious Bookmarks

Hi all,
Just to let you know i have added quite a few new pages to my delicious bookmarks:
http://www.delicious.com/stephiemonty i know that a lot of them might not be relevant to all of you but there are some good ones on education and the national curriculum.

How I plan to overcome the ethical issues surrounding conducting research in a school environment.

For this inquiry I plan to conduct interviews and perform case studies on students in my three chosen schools. In order to do this I will have to address a number of ethical issues which arise when dealing with minors. My first concern is getting parental consent.  In an article written by Danny Doyle entitled ‘Trans-Disciplinary Inquiry- Researching with rather then Researching on’ (2007) he outlines some of issues one might face conducting an inquiry such as this. In this article he speaks of a teacher/researcher who is trying to gain parental consent to question and interview her students as part of her research project. Initially consent was not granted as the parents could not see how by partaking in this research would benefit their child, all they saw was time being taken way from their education. Doyle suggested that had she aimed to obtain informed consent form the parent’s from the outset then she might not have received this initially scepticism from the parents. By informed consent I mean she should have explained to the parents in detail the purpose of the inquiry/investigation, give an outline of the content of the part of the inquiry that their children will be taking part in, and explain how the inquiry will benefit their child.

Doyle also suggests that to a certain extent the decision to be part of the inquiry should be left up to the student, if the student can be considered a ‘Gillick’[i]. The majority of the students I will be working with can be considered Gillicks but I am still going to seek parental consent as I am unsure how widely understood this concept is and I do not want parents complaining that I have not go through the proper procedures.  I plan to send letters out to the parents of each child I wish to use in my inquiry, giving a detailed description of what the child’s involvement will entail, how the inquiry will benefit their child, stressing to the parents that involvement in the inquiry will in no way impede on their school work and will take up minimal amount of their time.  This is a point that I plan to discuss with my employer and tutor because I do not want the students to think that I do not think that they are competent to make the decision themselves, as Masson said ‘Where children have the capacity to make a decision, parents’ power over that area of the child’s life is ended unless preserved by statute law. Consequently, a parent cannot consent to research on behalf of a competent child.’ (Masson, 2000 p.39) So at the moment I am in two minds as to what to do.  I believe that a number of the students can be considered competent and thus should be allowed to make the decision themselves but at the same time I do not want to get into any sort of altercation with parents because they think that i have not made them full aware of what is happening with regards to their children.   

I have decided that it will be best if all involved in the inquiry, the students, teachers and names of the schools remain anonymous. I think by doing this I will get rid of some of the confidentiality issues that might arise. It has been advised to me to do this by somebody who has recently underetaken a similar research project. This researcher chose not to do this and found that she was being constantly questioned by parents about the content and outcome of the interviews. By keeping all subjects anonymous the information gathered can be kept confidential until the inquiry is finished. I will of course be discussing elements of the inquiry with colleagues but this will be to get their feedback but as I will be working to a very tight schedule I want to ensure that all engagement in this inquiry will in some way add to it. As mentioned previously I plan to look at three contrasting art departments, gathering information from staff and students, I plan to give them factious names i.e. school x and pupil 2. Any questionnaires will be anonymous, distributed and collected in large numbers so that I will be unable to associate the answers with a particular person.  Another issue I am grappling with at present is how to keep the art departments anonymous. I will not use any names but because the three departments are so different it will be obvious which one I am talking about. At present I am unsure how to overcome this problem.  In his article Doyle using an outline set up by the NTRP, asks, and ‘is there a code of practice for the ethical conduct of research? Are there assurances about:

Whether the school and/or teachers will remain anonymous?

Whether the contribution of the school and the teachers is to be acknowledged and how?

How the data collection about teachers, teaching and learning or other aspects of school organisation are to be checked with those involved in generating them? For example will, teachers who are interviewed have access to records of the interview? Will the teachers or the school have a chance to comment on profiles draft questionnaires, proformas, interview schedules?

Whether the sample will target a range of teacher effectiveness and how is this to be defined. If so what will teachers need and want to know about how their work is being evaluated? Whether the teacher and/or the school have chance to comment on written outputs?

How disagreements about data or reports will be negotiated and reconciled? And whether there are proper arrangements for observing pupils and for parental permission? (NTRP, 2003)

I think this pretty clearly outlines a lot of the issues that I should mainly be considering, some of the questions I already have an answer to, some of which I am still considering, by having this outline I have a clearer idea of ethical areas for consideration when creating the inquiry proposal and conducting the inquiry. 

---

[i] ‘In 1986, the House of Lords decided in the case of Gillick V West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority that parental rights are not absolute rights. They are exercised by parents on behalf of children too young to exercise them for themselves. The case concerned a teenage child’s right to consent to medical treatment without the parents’ knowledge. Lord Fraser said that the degree of parental control varied according to the child’s understanding and intelligence.’  Danny Doyle ‘Trans-Disciplinary Inquiry- Researching with rather then Researching on’ (2007)

Ethical issues that have arisen as an art educator/educator in general:

The most important ethical issue I have encountered whilst working in a school environment is to have a strong understanding of child safeguarding policies, general ones that follow Government standards and the individual one that are put in place by the individual establishments. These policies are put in place not only to protect the students and their wellbeing but also to ensure that the members of staff do not put themselves in a position where they could be held liable in order to do this you should be aware of the child protection act and other such relevant legal documents. From a member of staff’s point of view you should conduct yourself at all times in a manner that is deemed to be appropriate. You are taught through staff meeting and inset days how to identify when a student is being bullied in school and what responsibilities you have to help the student and who you have to make aware of this. It is also the responsibility of staff members to be able to identify when a student is being abused at home or being neglected, again it is you have to know how to initially council the child and who need to be informed so that the student can get the necessary help. Not only is this your responsibility but if you do not you could be held liable. During school hours the teacher are put in a position of loco parentis, meaning at all times the teachers should have the student’s best interest in mind thus they should know what is included in legal documents such as the child safety act and equality act and have an understanding of health and safety and know all of your establishment’s policies. Not only are you there to protect the students but also monitor and as much as possible try to control the students behaviour while they are at school, this includes keeping track of their attendance, informing the correct people if it drops. In my opinion if there is anything you are in doubt about or unsure if it is something you should be dealing with, inform your superior.

  I have mentioned in previous blogs about the dangers the internet and other such web2.0 platforms pose to vulnerable parties in particular children, not only the content of what they might see but also how they can use them to exclude and victimise other students. In order to try and control this, staff members should have an understanding of how these technologies can be used. If you don’t understand what it is they are doing how can you expect to prevent it? Keeping up to date with technology is also vital in the teaching of all subjects. Teaching methods are constantly adapting to incorporate these technologies to improve the teaching of the subject.

Codes of Practice for teachers:

·     Be professional at all times.

·     Have a firm grasp of health and safety.

·     Be punctual at all times.

·    At all times behave in a way that you expect the students to behave.

·    Have an understanding of legal documents such as the Child Protection Act and all of your school’s safe guarding policies.

·    Keep up to date with advancements in technology not only how you can use them in the teaching of your subject but also how the students are using them.

·    Keep up to date with your course and what is happening within the industry in which you practice.

·    Be compassionate and sensitive when it is required.

Ethical issues in the practice of art.

Whilst practising art these are some of the ethical issues that I have either been made aware of or have encounter whilst making my work. The major ethical issues I can think of all seams to steam from subject and material.

Materials:

 There has been much controversy over Marc Quinn’s sculpture ‘Self’ which is made of nine pints of his own frozen blood, a material which is commonly used by performance artists, but is it ethically acceptable to use bodily fluids as a material. Artists such as Jana Sterbak when she created ‘Flesh Dress’ or Dr Günter Von Hagen’s ‘Body Worlds’ exhibitions encountered similar problems.  Dr Von Hagen has actually been arrested on a number of occasions because of the materials he uses to create his pieces. If anybody is unfamiliar with his work, he uses corpses that have been donated for the development of science.   Bodily fluids and rotting meat have not been the only issues; Quinn’s work was in question again when he unveiled his gold sculpture of Kate Moss in 2008. May people questioned if it was right for him to create a sculpture which cost £1.5 million when the country is in a recession? In my inquiry I plan to try and encourage people to use unconventional materials in new ways and thus will have to think about all of these ethical issues very carefully.

 At CSM, when making work we were always encouraged to think about the sustainability of our pieces. How would the production/ creation of them impact the environment? Were there any ways that the piece could be made more environmentally friendly?

Subject:

The reader uses a good example, the Pulitzer winning photographer.  Should you intervene with your subject?  The Fashion industry struggles with this constantly, as a model if you are very thin then you will get work but where is the line between very thin and emaciated? As a designer/ photographer/ make-up artist is it your place to intervene when you are aware that if she were to put on weight she might loose work but if she didn’t she might make herself very ill.

Lucian Freud was often criticised for painting his daughters in a way that many deemed unacceptable, in his defence he didn’t paint them until they were adults and he claims that he uses the process of painting people to get to know them better.  So is it really unethical? One does have to be very careful when choosing a subject matter in particular when you are using human subjects.

Code of Practice for an Artist:

Each artist will come up with their own code of practice depending upon what setting they are working within but general guidelines to follow may include:

·        Having an understanding and sensitivity toward your subject.

·        Work in a professional manor

·        Try not to work in a vacuum, be aware of what other artist are doing.

·        Be accountable to your employer/ client.

·        Have an understanding of current political, economical and social activity.

·        To have patience.

·        To have an understanding of and sensitivity towards all cultures and religions. 

What are the ethical issues that I will have to take into consideration when proposing my inquiry topic?

        As my inquiry will involve a number of students some of which will be minors there are many ethical issues I will have to take into consideration. Namely the information that the students give me will have to be handled sensitively, in particular any personal information ensuring that confidential information remains confident and the students, parents and teachers are aware of what information will be published. Another issue that has been bothering me for a while is how it will be best for me to contact the students, in particular the students from my current school when they go off to different colleges. As I have mentioned before by law a teacher should not have any personal contact with previous students until they have been out of the school for at least two years. I really don’t want to put myself in a position where by my professional behaviour could be scrutinised thus I approached the art director with this issue. He suggested that I use email as my only form of communication, make sure that you don’t give any students my mobile phone number and ensure that I cc him and the student’s current art teacher into all of the emails. Also I must ensure that I have parental consent before I have any contact with the students outside of school. I think when dealing with minors one has to take a deontological approach to ethics. A set of rules must be established with no gray areas. It is either allowed or not. This is not the usual approach I would take to ethical issues in most cases I would consider myself a virtue ethicist. Believing that things are not black and white, the situation and the person’s character should be taken into account but sometimes subjectivity leads to confusion which you cannot have when dealing with minors and other vulnerable groups.

        Obviously before involving the students into any part of my inquiry I will have to get parental consent, I am slightly concerned about the possible parental involvement clearly they have the right to say they don’t want their children to answer certain question and know what information I am going to publish about their child but I really don’t want them getting too involved constantly peering over mine and their child’s shoulder censoring what they write and thus making the information I receive from them not as useful as it possibly could be. Again this is an issue that I have brought up with the art director as I didn’t really know how to approach this. His reply was there is not much I can do, if the parents decide that they want to be involved and check everything that is written then there is nothing I can do about it, I will just have to take this into account when analysing the information gathered. The only thing I can do to try and stop them from getting so involved is to give them no reason to feel like they need to be. Conduct myself and any interviews in a very professional way, be confident in what I am doing and ensue that I have an answer for every possible question that they might come up with. He suggested that if they feel confident and comfortable with me then they will not feel the need to scrutinise my every step.

        When I was looking into the ethical issues raised in the practice of art the main one was the materials used to create the piece. I listed some examples of occasions when materials have been used I what was considered an unethical way. This inquiry proposes to look into the use of materials and encourage active experimentation of materials in GCSE students and A-level. It is the reasonability of the educator to make them aware of the ethical issues behind using certain materials but as I will be looking into how they experiment with materials and processes in their work I will also ensure that they are aware of these facts. All of the ‘unethical’ materials mentioned in my previous blog will be out of the question for these students, not only because of the ethical implication but because school policy will not allow it, but they should be aware that these sort of issues should be taken into consideration when making their work to and extent now but more so later on in their artistic career.  

         The aim of this inquiry is to try and improve the teaching of art at GCSE and A-level. In order to improve it one must first identify the problems. When doing this I am going to have to be very careful not to offend any of the art teachers that I will be working with. At no point do I want them to think that I am criticising their teaching styles because who am I to tell them that they are doing something wrong?  I am not a teacher, I am not even a graduate yet, I am merely an observer and I will have to remember that is very easy to pick up on faults or areas for improvement when you do not actually have to do it. To overcome this problem I am going to try and be as involved as possible in the department I am going to investigate become involved in the classes and understand their dynamics so that if there are any criticism they know that they are well founded. I will also try to keep any areas for improvement very general, so that the comments do not appear to be aimed directly at any one teacher or department.

        Through doing this section of the module I have realised that there are many more ethical issues to be taken into consideration then I ever though. I was aware that dealing with children is an ethical mind field, but I was not aware of all the other issues. I am confident that there are still many more that I have not taken into consideration so if you read this and think of any very important ones I have missed please let me know.  I am also planning on scanning our schools child safe guarding document and up loading it as a pdf file obviously I will have to remove any sensitive information and details of the school but it might be useful for some of the other teachers who are not quite so familiar with safeguarding policies. Most of them are pretty standard for all schools. I will let you know where and when I have managed to upload it.