How much work is GCSE art?

[FiveHoursSleep]

DD2 is in Y9 and is picking her GCSE options soon. She has ASD so we have been discussing the possibilities for a while and she has settled on pretty much everything except one of her 'free choice' options.
She wants to do an art, probably fine art, as she loves it and is always drawing/ taking photos etc.
During parents' evening her art teacher said she was 'very good' and should consider it.
As well as being autistic, DD is also dyspraxic and her organisational skills are below average. She regularly struggles with homework although has improved a lot over the last year.
I worry that she might concentrate on her art work to the detriment of her other subjects, for which she should get decent grades if she can stay on track.
How much homework is your Y10 child getting if they are doing art?

[Tigerblue]

I think it depends how much they want to and are willing to put in. DD was told before she took art students often go back at lunch or stay after school and she has done this. Sometimes not at all, sometimes three times a week. Regarding what's done at home, as a parent art just seems to get swallowed up into homework for 10 other subjects. However, they are on the approach to GCSEs and suddenly seem to have a massive amount for the GCSE. One good thing is that art exams are in March, so it's one they've got out of the way.

[troutsprout]

Lucky girl.. she's found something she likes and is good at

It might be good for her to have downtime doing art ? If she loves it and is good at it? It may actually help her focus on the other subjects because 1 -There are less of them (coz she's chosen Art) and 2. If she gets to float away and relax a bit in Art.
It will be hard work..but if she likes it and does it at home anyway.. she's already has experience and it will come a bit easier to her
I have a son with asd... I get what you are saying but I think it's really important to play to their strengths.
It could be a great opportunity to improve her organisational/planning skills too ( ds also has poor organisation)
Tbh.. I think kids should just pick subjects they like for gcse. Stuff they already do or are interested in their spare time is a good indicator. Added to the core subjects too, it's enough.

Is she thinking of going in this direction for college/ uni maybe? If so Art GCSE would be good experience and gives a good start.

In terms of expected work/ time, my Dd will do gcse Art next year and they will be expected to stay for an hour after school twice a week and do at least 2 lunchtimes.. but they do gcse Art in 1 year (rather than 2) so it's probably more than most schools

[bojorojo]

Do it because she enjoys it. This is a great choice for the extra subject. The pupils usually work in school but not necessarily. My DD did not do too much for GCSE, and it was not distracting, but A level is another thing! One important thing: is the Art teacher good? My DD had a useless one for GCSE and a briliant one for A level. Far too much time was spent experiementing at GCSE without producing something worthwhile. With a top class teacher at A level, she improved and her work was fantastic.

[CeciCC]

Hi, my DD (Y11) is doing art Gcse, and it is a lot of work. She loves it and she will do Art for Alevel. If your DD loves Art I would advice for her to do it but help her to keep it up to date. For what I know from my DD experience is very easy to fall behind your work but she has enjoyes it very much. Goid luck

[PossumInAPearTree]

Dd in year 11 is doing, art, photography and graphic design GCSEs. Everyone said she was mad and I was mad for allowing it due to three coursework heavy subjects but to be honest she's been fine.

She's also lazy, and dyspraxic and dyslexic......I wouldn't say she's well organised. We've had the odd incident of her suddenly saying late on a Sunday that she needs to have done some art work for Monday and she has a panic and does something. But she's managing the workload of three.

So I say go for it.

[Iamastonished]

"In terms of expected work/ time, my Dd will do gcse Art next year and they will be expected to stay for an hour after school twice a week and do at least 2 lunchtimes.. but they do gcse Art in 1 year (rather than 2) so it's probably more than most schools"

DD did GCSE art in one year, but they used to do 2 "short, fat" GCSEs in year 10 and 2 in year 11. Art was timetabled for 5 one hour lessons a week, but DD also stayed after school for an hour once a week. She had a fair amount of homework, and spent a lot of the Easter holidays adding work to her folder. There is also some written work where they have to evaluate and compare different artists' work.

There is a lot of work, but you don't have to concentrate when doing homework they way you would have to when doing maths for example.

[LooseAtTheSeams]

DS1 is in year 10 and loves gcse art. He is definitely a leave it to the last minute person but even he has managed a decent amount of work so far! He spends some lunch times in the art room and stays behind sometimes to get things done but generally works on it at home as he is mainly drawing. He's doing music as well, which takes up more time but it's his choice!

[nell15]

I was an art teacher and also have worked with asd and dyspraxic students - I've a nephew with dyspraxia and he is extremely creative as a writer . Let your daughter do her art, like others have said it's great that she has something she's good at and importantly enjoys. It will improve self esteem coordination, spatial awareness, hand- eye coordination, self discipline confidence - I could go on... it can only impact in a positive way on her studies in her other subjects because of the things I've mentioned. I always had groups of pupils at lunchtime and after school working and apart from that it gave them a sense of belonging. I loved the chats that we had, often issues would come up that they.couldn't or wouldn't talk about elsewhere. Ii saw shy, awkward kids really blossom through doing art
I did all my o and a levels - coming top of my year, AND my art o and a levels

[lokisglowstickofdestiny1]

It is a lot of work. My DD wouldn't pick it again if she had the choice. She used to love Art but says all the joy had been drained away by doing the GCSE, she reckons about half her Art set feel the same.

[Iamastonished]

"She used to love Art but says all the joy had been drained away by doing the GCSE,"

That's what DD said. She did consider it for A level, but was put off it by her cousin who has A level art and an art degree. However, she has since done quite a lot of art for pleasure, and IMO I think she is better at it now than when she was doing GCSE, in which she got an A.

[FiveHoursSleep]

I think we will go for it once we've had a good talk to the teacher again. DDs other option will be music as she's good at that too and DD1 is doing music and it doesn't seem too bad at all.

[techless]

My dd did 2 arts GCSEs (photography and graphic design) at the same school as your dd2, OP and found it a huge amount of work and it did put her off the subjects and negatively impacted on her other GCSEs.

But with just 1 art GCSE, provided she's genuinely motivated and (very important) makes sure she stays on top of the workload from the beginning, your dd2 should be fine.

The standard in arts subjects at the school is incredibly high.

[Eve]

Art gcse is a lot of work! Evenings, weekends ..extra classes..

[TheSecondOfHerName]

Marking place, as DD is in the year below the OP's daughter (at the same school) and will be facing this decision next year. She loves art and is good at it, but doesn't know whether to do Art, Photography or Graphic Design for GCSE.

[nell15]

thesecondothername I would encourage your daughter to chose on the basis of what she wants out of it, i.e. Is because of the eventual job/career she'd like or is it because of enjoyment and pleasure. If it's about a career then in my experience unless you're massively talented with rich parents or an inheritance or very self sacrificing and single minded, it's very hard to become a fine artist. They either train to teach art ( me!) or ithey take a more applied art route like graphics textiles photography ceramics as there are more opportunities available . If it's isn't about her eventual career choice then go for whatever aspect she likes and enjoys doing. Hope this helps. Good luck

[thesandwich]

Art gcse for dd was very traumatic because of very poor teacher guidance and communication. Look at what results the school gets for art/ music before you decide. And have a look at the specification- what needs doing by when??

[FiveHoursSleep]

Second Ironically enough, it's the textiles teacher who thinks that DD2 has talent, although she'd be a nightmare for textiles.
I think graphics is probably the most useful for her although she's keen on photography too. But it's equipment needed that puts me off.
AND I said a flat no to DD1 doing it....

[TheSecondOfHerName]

One of the reasons for us liking the school as a good fit for DD was the visual arts on offer. She has been doing the after school clay club, which turns out to be a very similar course to the ceramics classes offered to adult learners (except free of charge) and the ceramics teacher spoke to me recently to suggest that DD do Art GCSE. However, she already gets a lot of homework (in Y8) and is a bit of a perfectionist, spending longer than necessary on each piece of work.

[Hia3]

My daughter is doing Art Gcse( Year 11) She does spend more time doing Art for homework, than any other subject.
If you like Art and are quite good at it- spending a lot of time on the subject is not too difficult- my daughter tends to spread her Art stuff all over the kitchen- chat to friends on her iPhone and listen to music!
I do sometimes worry about Art, taking time away from her other subjects. But on the positive side it is 60% course work - so this definitely takes pressure off ( my daughter is predicted A*, for her course work) and will have completed her actual exam the end of April this year. So hopefully will free up a lot of time to focus on her other subject- which are all 100% exams in May/June.
My advice- if your child has talent and wants to do the Art Gcse, then she should . Good advice for your daughter is to keep up with the tasks/ homework set - even if it does mean the old weekend or half term spending extra time on Art. Perhaps you could help her organise times, that she needs to focus on her Art and try to help her think ahead- you could organise going to Art galleries etc .
My daughter did tend to be a bit disorganised, but her very good Art teacher has all along stressed the importance of keeping up with tasks etc- plus the Art does not need to be perfect- the course work should show the development and experimentation in the child's Art.
If you do get behind with the Art tasks etc, it is very stressful- this has happened to my daughter's best friend .

[myfavouritecolourispurple]

Dd in year 11 is doing, art, photography and graphic design GCSEs

My sons' school said the exam board would not allow both art and photography - maybe they should not have done both subjects with the same exam board.

I agree with the poster above that once you've got the core subjects covered, you should choose the GCSE subjects you like the best/are the best at. Lots of A levels are open without having done the GCSE in them, and I don't think it matters to have less academic subjects if you've got the core subjects.