Morley College disappearing UAL courses

[ArtGarfield]

We live in London and are thinking about what DD would like to do post 16. Obviously there is the usual A level route and a variety of places to apply to. She’s only really interested in arts subjects and fewer and fewer institutions offer three at A levels.

We have talked about doing a traditional one year art foundation post A level. And also about a two year UAL diploma instead of A levels.

i checked out the Morley page tonight and saw all of the UAL courses are advertised to start next September but they also have a large notice on all of them saying “course no longer available”.

I will obviously contact them but I wondered if anyone knows what’s going on? It would be so sad if they have stopped all the art course
qualifications for school age children.

It might be a blip on their IT system. It says the application system is down overnight tonight.

They are in the website now @ArtGarfield. As you know my DD is there now. She's made friends easily and the teachers are nice, but she's not had a chance to explore her own work - she's still doing her last rotation (photography). So it's not really going to help build a portfolio for degree applications. Her biggest take from it is the opportunity for work experience abroad - she's on the short list for an all expenses paid month in Lisbon.
But she now says, though she always planned on a gap year, she thinks if you know the art route you want to go on then go straight to it or do something else for your gap year - you can do art on our own.
FAD is sold as a year 'exploring your own creativity' without the restrictions of A level requirements- but she says you still do teacher assignments and there are essays and artwork that need to be submitted for the qualification. I guess some kids really love FAD year, but she does feel it's a bit like being in GCSE Art. Whether that's Foundation in all places or at Morley, but I have heard the same said about the course at CSM. I also think her views may be tainted by the fact she no longer plans on a creative degree - though whether if she was she'd be even more frustrated at not doing 'her own thing' who knows.

Thanks so much Ellmau and @mondaytosunday . I don’t know why I didn’t think the wording might be to do with an IT blip. I think I’d just had rather TOO much day and that was the final straw.

It is useful to hear your daughter’s experience Monday. It is good to hear all the positives as I was slightly wary about post 16 education at anything other than a school/ sixth form college. And I acknowledge the difficulties. I think for DD Morley would be something she’d explore at 16 and 18 and would partly depend on her GCSE grades.

@ArtGarfield My DD did Art, Photography and Business Studies A level at school and went directly to a degree course at LCF. Had she wanted a more traditional art course, she would have done a foundation. Any art course requires research and writing. No course is just art and doing what you want. There has to be structure and prep for a degree.

I think doing 3 Art A levels would not be allowed at many schools. Two, plus preparing a portfolio, was seriously hard work. A portfolio needs to show more than just art too! A narrative should be present. Also the portfolios might be required for Jan/Feb when dc are interviewed. Then elements of the A level might be early too. So doing three is a killer. DD had high standards and worked very hard for high grades but you have to follow the syllabus for any qualification.

Just to add @ArtGarfield, a friend's daughter was convinced she wanted to do the two Year art course instead of A levels (is it the UAL extended diploma?), which would have required her moving, so in the end she didn't. She instead did the usual A level art and I think Business and some other A level. She's now doing business at Royal Holloway- during her A levels she realised a creative route was not for her. And as I've said my own daughter was on that trajectory too - we did the open days at Falmouth and UCA etc and of course she enrolled on a FAD course, but has changed her mind too. Both these girls were fine switching as they had other A levels - if they had just done art from age 16 it would really have restricted their path moving forward.
I think me and my daughter should have paid more attention to the fact her week long 'Foundation prep' course she did at Kingston, one of the most competitive FAD courses (she didn't get accepted to the full course), was 'juvenile and a waste of time'. While as @TizerorFizz says there needs to be structure and of course marked assignments, she is not finding that it's helping her with her own artistic exploration. And they haven't done a single Animation bit - she has incorporated some into her assignments, but is on her own doing that - she did specifically ask them about animation and they do have some equipment, and presumably she'll be able to do it for her final project, but that would not help her with a degree application portfolio. Bottom line: nothing she has done so far on the course would go in to her portfolio.
I'm not saying an FAD is not worthwhile - it does act as a bridge between school and uni, allows for maturing and may help if unsure which area to concentrate on, but i no longer think it's an essential stepping stone.

DD didn’t want a foundation as she felt she had explored art already. The A levels were fine for her portfolio. I think the foundation helps unsure people try out different media. If you know what you want, always explore direct entry to the degree.

Thanks all.

We are just trying to explore all eventualities. The thinking is if she gets xx results she could go to Y. If she gets ZZ results Y is ruled out but she could go to Q. She might want to do a degree, she might not. Do really creative people just get on and do it without?

It makes me feel better to be able to talk to her about a few options so she doesn’t feel that her current school ( very high grades to enter sixth form) is the be all. It’s nice to have different options for 16+. Some of her friends are already sure that Oxbridge is the only route to happiness and success.

Various local schools colleges allow a variety of art subjects. That will all depend on her grades. Some allow art/photography and history of art. Some allow film studies/art/DT. Some don’t allow art and textiles and some do. I’ve looked into it a bit. Who knows if any art subjects will be available when she gets to that point!

I know that art subjects are academic. I think DD wishes they weren’t but understands the reality.

The problem with doing even two arts subjects is that you really are saying you want to do art. Also workload is heavy. Photography is not seen as academic everywhere. Art more so. DD kept options open by including Business. All art at 16 plus does narrow down options in the future. If you like art, you can do your own but everyone we know who is doing art for a living has trained in it. Many don’t make a living though. DD has retrained to do interior design and has a good job.

DS did Art A level and 2 sciences. One art based A level was enough!
Can't comment on 16+ diplomas but I agree that keeping options open is a good idea.
DS experience of an FAD was totally different to @mondaytosunday DC. He was at Leicester DMU. After about 8 weeks of rotations through set assignments that everyone did and workshop inductions they did 3 projects of increasing length where they use any media and explore any area they liked. And the facilities were amazing.
The FAD was more about learning the process of getting to produced finished work as opposed to what they produced (although that of course was assessed as well) it also taught them critical analysis of own and others work, journalling and curating etc. They also were invaluable with portfolio prep for degree.
It was a very valuable year for DS and has allowed him to hit the ground running with his degree at UWE which is much less structured.

Yes - these days everyone seems to have a degree, and I Looked it up and about 20% of animators also have a masters. It's about making contacts for jobs, leads for work experience etc. And so many teach - especially fine art, and you need a degree for that. Of course there are exceptions, and some big animators (that's the area DD looked at) have degrees in non art areas (the famous Studio Ghibli founder has a degree in Political Science) but I think these days most go to art school.
Keeping options open is key at such a young age. AI is going to change things and who knows what the creative job market will look is five to six years when she's out there trying to find work?

Thanks all. I do understand.

Oh, and @TizerorFizz where did your DD retrain and did her original degree help?

A lot to think about. My dd just found out she's been accepted on to the Turing Scheme work experience in Lisbon - worth the year at Morley just to do that! 15 are going, all expenses paid. She doesn't know what she'll be doing, could be art studio, architectural office, publishing/advertising studio... she's thrilled though!

@mondaytosunday that is absolutely amazing for your DD. I am so thrilled for her. When does she go?

@ArtGarfield Yes. Her degree helped plus excellent CAD skills. She has a good eye for space utilization/ 3 D and certainly found this change of direction was for her. She did a 1 year diploma at KLC School of Design. It was very expensive. She didn’t know interior design was for her at 17. Most on the diploma were career changers or in their early 20s and hadn’t decided on a career earlier.

@ArtGarfield February! Not long really. Two of her friends were also shortlisted so hoping at least one of them got through too.

Thanks @TizerorFizz, I’ve just looked up the course and It look amazing. Prohibitively expensive without a student loan though.

@mondaytosunday I hope she gets a friend to go along with. It does sound an amazing opportunity. I’d love to hear where her placement is and how she finds the whole experience . Tell us on the other thread!

@ArtGarfield I think some courses do get the loans. Dd did the diploma but they do degrees. She didn’t want another degree and the diploma is just fine. Very hard work though. Yes, it’s expensive but Inchbald is more!

I will have another look at the website and check out their degrees. It has never occurred to me to suggest DD looks at private institutions as I assumed they’d be out of our/her reach.

I’m not sure if they are all private degrees or not.