Asking questions

Drawing on insights received thus far, we’re busy interviewing staff and students at various institutions to gain their insight into feedback, assessment and their relationship. At the moment one interesting point, which counters much pedagogic literature, is the emphasis placed on assessment. Whereas this is often deemed to be a defining factor in the decisions students make and the strategies they adopt in approaching their work, for Fine Art students it seems to be less determining. Don’t get me wrong, the students seem eager to get marks which reflect the effort that has gone into their work and want to ‘do well’ but don’t tend to work toward assessment, rather seeing assessment as something that punctuates their progress but doesn’t ‘matter’, as such, until they reach stages 3 and, in Newcastle, 4 when the major proportion of their degree is decided. Even then, they don’t see the grade awarded as absolutely crucial – as one commented, you could still get a Third and win the Turner Prize. In other words, the criteria by which we assess the students are perhaps not those the wider art world uses to determine ‘value’. That raises questions, and interesting ones for us, about the models we use linking feedback/assessment with professional practice – like Open Studios.

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Short Statement from a Student…

The Creative Difference project has given me the opportunity to question the values of assessment and feedback within the sphere of Fine Art. As a student it is sometimes difficult to get a wider sense to how my eduction is effecting my development. Assessment and feedback has a significant role in my own educational life as it is an indication to how I should go about making decisions in regards to structuring my studio practice.

A big question that keeps me awake at night, is to what exactly is the importance of studying Fine Art at higher education level? When arguing the importance of Fine Art to friends enrolled on scientific degrees, who naively believe the art subject to be a mere glorified hobby, I sometime find it difficult to clarify my argument in support of Fine Art within higher education. In time, would like to establish a stronger argument to defend the purpose of the education of Fine Art.

I hope to satisfy my intrigue by taking part in this line of research. Not only do I want to make sure that I contribute within the team, but I also hope to gain a greater understanding of the nature of education within Fine Art for my own personal reasons.

                                                                  … . …

It is curious that I have landed myself into a project where I am working alongside Chris Jones and Vee Pollock; two delightful people who are often responsible for grading my work. I am sure that future meetings will entail interesting dialogue between myself and my educators; it will especially thrilling if we find that we have opinions that drastically clash.

James Ricketts 

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