COURSE OUTLINE GCSE Art & Design
Exam Board: AQA
The AQA Art, Craft & Design course encourages students to explore a wide range of art-making, from traditional drawing through to contemporary computer-assisted artwork. Students’ understanding of art-making is enhanced by trips to galleries and museums, as well as artist-led workshops. The GCSE course consists of two units; a Portfolio (60%) and an externally set task (40%)
Unit 1: Art Craft & Design Portfolio - A portfolio that in total shows explicit coverage of the four assessment objectives. It must include a sustained project evidencing the journey from initial engagement to the realisation of intentions and a selection of further work undertaken during the student’s course of study.
All projects are based on the development of ideas from observational drawing through to individual responses. Students will explore a wide variety of materials, media and processes while developing their drawing, analytical and critical thinking skills.
Unit 2: Externally Set Assignment - Students respond to their chosen starting point from an externally set assignment paper relating to their subject title, evidencing coverage of all four assessment objectives. At the beginning of January, students select one question from the paper set by AQA. Students will be given a preparatory period with teacher guidance followed by a supervised ten-hour controlled test to complete their personal response.
Further Study and Careers
A2 Level Art follows naturally from GCSE Art and can lead to careers in graphic design, advertising, architecture, teaching, film-making and fine art.
The study of Art and Design develops many transferable skills such as problem-solving, as well as analytical and creative thinking. These skills are extremely helpful for higher-level study and in future employment.