Words in my Eyes—the assessment of art and design in GCSE

Abstract

Summary This paper is concerned with teachers’ ‘criterion‐referenced’ assessment practices in General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) art and design. Case study research has revealed that teachers report some difficulty in assessing art and design through the application of written criteria to visual material. Exemplar material in the form of photographs of students’ work, although one way of providing a visual context for criteria, might also become prescriptive. Furthermore, photographs of art work fail to take account of important aspects of a spectator's aesthetic experience. A programme of annual trial assessments, where teachers are prepared for examining GCSE art and design utilising a discussion technique for making judgements, is seen as one where orthodoxy of viewpoint and the legitimation of a particular view of art activity might be questioned and therefore provide for teachers’ professional development. In such a programme, assumptions could be challenged and the reality of art as a dynamic and elusive phenomenon represented.

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