Year 11 dd told shes getting an E for art.

[PossumInAPearTree]

Art teacher only two weeks ago was saying low B or high C. Now this. She's gutted.

He said its because She's done so much in charcol which can't be detailed enough. But he's known for ages she was doing charcol. Why didnt he say something before? He's previously said her work was expressive and had a good style.

He's given her a week to put some more work in and says if its detailed enough she may get a C but probably not.

She must have other pieces surely?

Does she want to do art for a levels or in the future?
If not I wouldn't worry.

Is this her coursework? It sounds very odd if she was expecting a B. How did her art exam go?

Well none of her other pieces are good enough apparantly. Why she only gets told this today I have no idea. No concerns expressed in recent parents evening and prediction letter at Easter said she was on track for a C.

She wants to do an architecture degree so is very upset.

But according to most uni websites she doesn't need art, though she has it in her head she does. It says English and maths at gcse and an art and design portfolio on most degree courses. A portfolio is not an art gcse. She's doing graphic design gcse and is predicted an A* and will be doing product design a level so I'm hoping that will be ok.

It's coursework and exam combined. She says the exam didn't go great.

Is it possible that she has misconstrued what he said do you think?

I'm not sure, she seems very clear.

He's given her a list of stuff to do. She asked him if she did it all would she get a C. He said it wasn't about just doing the list, but the work had to be of a high, detailed standard and if so then it was possible.

But Dd says she can't draw in a detailed way that he wants her to. That she has her own expressive style which isn't about doing accurate drawings of stuff.

She reckons in the next lesson she will ask him if he can teach her how to draw. I fear that ship has sailed! The time to ask your art teacher to teach you to draw is not the week after your exam!

My dd did art, and had to show the understanding of all different styles, and the use of different colour and media. If she's only done charcoal, that is probably why? My dd got an A, but filled 3 books with work.

Your own style is something that develops. However, part of the process and learning of art is trying different styles and techniques. A professional artist who paints 'splodges' and has had an art education will still have the ability to draw and detail, it's just not the style they end up working in.

If she's just done one style in one media then she isn't going to be showing development

My Ds is predicted an A and did pencil drawings only in his exam but his portfolio includes watercolours, charcoal and sculpture, too.

Had dd only done charcoal work for two years?

She's done some photography as well. But other than that I think only charcoal. No idea why the teacher hasn't said anything before.

She's just said that before the exam he asked if anyone was struggling for an idea for their final piece. She and others put their hands up. He got round everyone apart from Dd to help give them ideas. Said he'd get to Dd the following lesson. He didn't, she reminded him and he kept saying he would and never did.

Then it was the exam and she was still struggling for an idea. But did something with no help on the idea which everyone else had.

Also Dd is meant to have extra time and hasn't had it. So she and one other should have had an extra 2.5 hours. They've to,d the teacher and he has shouted at them and said he's busy.

I've told Dd I will ring the school up and insist she gets that time but she says there's no point. Teacher said her work in the exam wasn't detailed enough. She says she doesn't know how to put more detail in it, she thought it was detailed. So she says even with extra time she doesn't think she could improve it as she has no idea what to do.

Although few architecture courses require Art A level they often require a portfolio of suitable work. Your DD is correct. It seems odd the teacher didn't say her work had insufficient breadth. Didn't she see what others were doing? Also she should have been taught about other media and styles and discussed her portfolio with the teacher. Did they actually speak? Seems very odd this defect has only just come to light. Did the teacher think she was doing more work than she actually has produced? This would explain no prevuois conversation about it. Can you ask, urgently, to see the teacher to find out exactly what she needs to do, and can do, in the time available?

Dd has now decided she's not going to bother attempting to sort this.

She says she would rather focus on her other subjects. She can't spend the next three weeks doing art portfolio stuff when exams start next week.

So guess there's no point ringing up.

Ds is doing two art subjects at GCSE and didn't get extra time in either of them like he does in written exams. It never occurred to me that he should have. Was that an oversight? TBH, I think 10 hours was plenty.

Dd was told she should get extra time in all exams inc art and photography.

But the whole lead up to this sounds very bizarre. Ds has been planning his exam pieces for months, basically since the December mock exams. The pieces for those mocks were also planned for months (since before the summer) and form part of his portfolios.

Nope, nothing like that here. At least not according to Dd.

She goes to one of the shittest schools going so I'm not surprised to be honest.

I can't really get my head around why you are leaving this for her to sort out, it's clearly not something she has been able to do on her own.
If she was allowed extra time and didn't get it the exam board need to be told.
The idea of not bothering to ring up, because a stressed 16 year old says she's given up is ludicrous.

Surely architecture is all about detailed drawing . Her portfolio will need to demonstrate that regardless of the outcome of her art gcse. If she doesn't sort this out in time and she discovers she does need art later on maybe she could do a foundation course to boost her skills.

And are you sure she has interpreted what she has been told correctly? Emotions may be clouding things. In the end teachers will want their pupils to achieve well, it seems unlikely he'd deliberately sabotage her chances.

DD2 gets extra time for all subjects, including art. Her work is extremely detailed, and meticulous, so I was pleased that she was allowed the extra time.

The thing about needing a portfolio for architecture, is that doing A level art allows you to build that up. Otherwise, you are trying to build up a portfolio, as well as doing A levels, which is a bit of a tall order. She could take a gap year, and apply next year, which would give a bit of time to build up a body of work, I suppose.

I would think universities would want to see a good result for GCSE art, if it has been studied, even if it's not necessary. You might want to check with whoever oversees UCAS and personal statements, etc, at the school.

That's a really crappy teacher, though, allowing her to get to this stage, and then telling her she needs to do more and different pieces. If not already finished, there should just be a few finishing touches to annotation, and so on.

DD1 has a good friend who is studying architecture at Cambridge, LIZS. He is very good at art, but drawing is not his forte. He's always been obsessed with architecture, though. They do like to see drawings, but he was very honest at the interview, when they asked him why there weren't more drawings, he just said he's not very good at it. They must have thought he was good enough, though!

That does seem really odd. DD has just done her art GCSEs and like pp said they had planned what to do in the exam down to the nth degree including making detailed sketches and mock ups which the teacher approved. She's always had to use a variety of media, it seems really odd your DD has used mostly charcoal all this time and they're only picking it up now? Your poor DD. I'd be in school all guns blazing here. They have seriously let her down if they really have let it get to this stage.

It wouldn't take her too long to do a few detailed little drawings for her coursework.

I remember I had a few holes at GCSE and knocked out a few pics to fill them! A few of trees, one of my living room etc, a classic still life of some apples. She can just sit and sketch the room as she watches tv!

There'll be you tube tutorials on drawing if she needs technique tips.

She should do a couple in pencil, maybe a pastel and one or two in pen maybe.

Poor girl, that's a shitty teacher.

Ok. Dd says she did just charcoal for unit one. But unit two she did acrylic, pen, watercolour and pencil as well. She had previously been told her unit one was a C and her unit two was a C.

Now been told she has an E overall.

She says they started planning for the final piece 2 or 3 weeks before the exam which totally ties in with what she was saying at home a few weeks before the exam. Because she was telling me then she hadn't had the chance to talk to the teacher about her ideas and when she tried to go to the art dept after school/in breaks she was told to go away. She had an arguement with another art teacher at this point when she was trying to find her art teacher, was told to leave, said she was desperate to find her teacher and this other teacher told her she was banned from the art dept for the rest of the term.