Photography
Key Stage 4
Course title: WJEC Eduqas GCSE in Art and Design (Photography) (for current Year 11)
Course title: Edexcel GCSE in Art and Design (for current Years 9 and 10)
What are the knowledge and skills that students will gain over Key Stage 4?
There are two units that make up the award for GCSE Photography. The content of the portfolio will be determined by the particular requirements and nature of the course of study undertaken. There is no restriction on the scale of work, media or materials used, but image manipulation both digital and physical is paramount.
Portfolio - Unit 1 consists of the following.
- Students develop work resulting from activities such as trials and experiments; skills-based workshops; mini and/or foundation projects; responses to gallery, museum or site visits; independent study and evidence of the student’s specific role in any group work undertaken.
- Work is developed in response to a subject, theme, task or brief evidencing the journey from initial engagement with an idea(s) to the realisation of intentions. This will give students the opportunity to demonstrate, through an extended creative response, their ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skills and/or understanding from across their course of study.
Externally Set assignment - Unit 2
- The externally set assignment provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate, through an extended creative response, their ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skills and/or understanding in response to their selected starting point. The extended creative response must explicitly evidence students’ ability to draw together different areas of knowledge, skill and/or understanding from initial engagement with their selected starting point through to their realisation of intentions in the 10 hours of supervised time.
Why is it delivered in this way?
Each student must select and present a portfolio, together with their externally set assignment as their submission for GCSE. The work must include evidence of drawing and annotation.
The students work on projects that build skills through the use of visual elements, how the camera works, the history of photography and composition techniques. Students learn to experiment with image manipulation, both physical and digital. They develop work by responding to artists and photographer contextually. This work forms the foundations of their portfolio submission.
The portfolio projects develop the skills they require to enable them to embark on the externally set assignment, which is an independent exam board directed project where students select a title from a paper published in January of Year 11.
Sixth Form
WJEC Eduqas GCE A LEVEL in Art and Design (Photography) (for current Year 13)
Edexcel GCE A level in Art and Design (for current Year 12)
What are the knowledge and skills that students will gain over Key Stage 5?
A’ Level Photography is made up of two components.
Component 1 Portfolio
The contents of the portfolio will be determined by the title students select. The emphasis of this component will be on the development of understanding and skills using an appropriate range photographic and digital media. Students should produce a collection of materials that exemplifies work carried out during the course. Each student must include in their portfolio which includes a selection of thoughtfully presented work, demonstrating the breadth and depth of their course of study This should demonstrate the student’s ability to sustain work from an initial starting point to a realisation. It should include evidence of their ability to research and develop ideas and link their work in a meaningful way to relevant critical/contextual materials resulting in an essay. Research from books, journals, moving images, photographs, digital presentations and the internet, as well as studies made during, gallery or museum visits. Work should be presented in sketchbook, digitally and as outside pieces. Students should carefully select, organise and present work to ensure that they provide evidence of meeting all four assessment objectives. All the work submitted for this component will be marked as a whole. Students must identify and acknowledge sources which are not their own.
Component 2 Externally Set Assignment
Students must select from a separate question paper set by the exam board. The paper will consist of a choice of five questions to be used as starting points. Students will be provided with examination papers on or as soon as possible after the 1 February. They then complete a project where they carefully select, organise and present work to ensure that they provide evidence of meeting all four assessment objectives, this includes 15 hours examination to complete a final outcome. This makes up the remaining 40%.
Why is it delivered in this way?
Students complete a skills building unit that allows them to understand processes, techniques and a range of photographic and digital media,giving them a foundation on which to build through their portfolio project. At the beginning of February Year 12 students are given a list of titles from which they choose one to complete a major portfolio project. They choose from the titles listed below:
Hidden, Flaws and Perfection, Transformation, Create and Destroy, Out of Place, Truth, Fantasy or Fiction, Patterns of Life, Discarded, Urban Decay, Snapshot Moments. This is an independent and individual project that will be supported by tutorials.
Students need to show a wide range of materials and techniques within their work. The essay needs to be between 1500 and 3000 work and must have references, bibliography and images.
From February in year 13, students will work on the externally set assignment completely independently.