GCSE Art

[MonktonMonkey]

My son is picking his options and has said he'd like to do art. This has come out of the blue as he hasn't shown any particular interest in art over the last few years.

He is trying to decide between art and BTEC Construction. I would rather he did the BTEC as, for him, I think it would be more worthwhile.

Neither of us know much about what GCSE Art entails, I will hopefully be speaking to the head of art at school next week, but I was hoping that someone might be able to tell me their/their child's experience of doing it.

One thing I have heard is that it's time consuming and often requires a lot of time working on it at home.

TIA

If you search you will find a lot of answers on this (not saying you can't start your own thread of course!)

None of my DC did art but from those I know who did, it has to be a passion. It is a massive thief of time as there is a lot of work that needs to be done outside the classroom. If that's what your DC enjoys doing, that's what they find relaxing, that is their hobby, then that's great. If not then it may be an issue.

I know DC who took art and loved it and went on to Art A level and maybe college.

I also know some who took it and ended up hating it by January of year 11.

One good thing is that there is no final exam in May/June (it is done earlier as a practical two-day exam) which can ease the pressure. But then if the other option is a BTEC that will broadly be true for that too.

@clary thanks for your reply. It's not his passion, never has been really.

I'm concerned that he'll be wasting an option by picking it. I don't really want to tell him he can't do it, but I'm thinking it might be for the best in the long run.

My dad did art and got a level 9.
It was an epic amount of work. Hours and hours and hours which are into his other subjects, required time after and before school in the art room, at the weekends and also a lot of annotations, essays, study as well as creating art through many different mediums.
He loves art, creates constantly and is gifted. Now at uni and not doing art. It's his escapism now

Not my dad (although he was good) my son

DD is doing art GCSE from September. She is predicted a 9 and very, very good but the art teacher has been clear, as have all the presentations we've had from school, that art GCSE is not a soft option. It is very time consuming with an attrition rate to attest to this fact.

DD is turning her old playhouse into a studio, we're already working on the list of requisite materials and DD spends hours every day drawing/painting/illustrating etc which will continue or increase come September.

It's not an idle choice.

@bringingonbackthegoodtimes thank you for your reply. My son is very sporty and I just don't think he'd be willing to give up that time to concentrate on art. And I don't really want him to, to be honest!

My son can't come up with a good reason for picking it, I fear he might think it's an 'easy' option, so any information that I can gain that says otherwise is much appreciated!

Yes, it's a lot of work. DS1 was going into school for extra lessons to build up his portfolio of course work. You really do have to enjoy art!

so different from when I did it many, many years ago!

DD's school were absolutely clear at options evenings that art GCSE means a lot of homework. They also send the message by art setting more homework than any other subject lower down the school!

Check it out with your school - possibly they vary on the proportion done in/out of lessons.

@ShowOfHands and @SoupDragon thank you for your replies. I will be showing him this thread.

Does anyone think it would be unreasonable for me to say he's not allowed to do it?

Op if he is very sporty, and I suppose (in normal times) gives a lot of his free time to practice and matches, then it might be worth pointing out he would have to give some of that up to be able to complete the necessary work for art GCSE.

And talk to him about what it would mean. I am not a fan of banning a subject tho.

Banning it doesn't sit well with me either. I'm hoping to gain enough information to be able to talk him out of taking it

The advantage of Art is that there is no exam so it's all done and dusted before May and one fewer subject to revise for. Plus (although there is some writing etc) it's a useful break from more academic subjects.

Disadvantage is that it's a lot of work. DD's teachers said as a rule of thumb you should expect to spend 2 hours a week on top of lessons. I actually think my DD has spent more than that.

I'd suggest it's not a subject you want to take unless you really like Art. In my DD's case, she spends a lot of her free time on Art related activities anyway, so is not bothered by it.

I'm an art teacher, and agree GCSE is a lot of work, and time consuming. How it's taught obviously does vary from school to school and course to course, but some schools put real emphasis on fine art and particularly drawing skills.

I don't agree really agree with not allowing students to pick their own options, but I would want to know his reasoning. If there an a photography route option, than that's worth considering. It is far less time consuming, and allows for lots of creativity without the pressure of drawing. I find students are able to achieve good grades more easily.

Get him to watch sketchbook walk-through videos on YouTube - past students talking through their coursework sketchbook, often grade 8/9. It's a good way to illustrate the amount of work involved, and the skills required for top grades.

My dd is doing Art GCSE and now in Y11 she hates the subject, with a passion.
She is working at a grade 9 level but cannot stand having a presciptive curriculum. She feels that thistakes away the creativity from drawing. As has been mentioned, it is very time consuming.
She still spends much of her free time making and selling her own art, which is her passion, but regrets taking it as a GCSE subject.

No, don't ban it. Just make sure he knows what a stupid amount of work it involves.

My year 11 doesn't do art, but some of her friends do, and a lot of them regret it because of the workload, even if they loved it before. It definitely isn't an easy option.

FWIW, dd does drama as her one non-academic subject. She absolutely loves it, but that hasn't been an easy option either in terms of the time that it has taken up - so many after school rehearsals etc. The kids in her class who picked it because they thought it was a soft option have been sorely disappointed.

Your ds needs to pick subjects that he genuinely enjoys, and not because he thinks they will be an easy ride.

All the other subjects he's picked are very academic, so it would be nice for him to do something like art. But he's just not creative or interested in art. I can see him not putting in the effort and scraping a low mark. Which just seems like such a waste when the BTEC option could open up a lot more opportunities.

DS did art GCSE - he got a 6 alongside the 8s and 9s he got in all his other GCSEs. He enjoyed it very much - it was a complete break from all his other sciency options and I'm glad he did it. He would have had to be a lot more self motivated and dedicated to get a higher grade though. He spent more time on art homework than pretty much the rest of his subjects combined but that was lots of really really slow drawing/painting & very little of the analysis bit for his portfolio.

School should be guiding him too and if he's choosing things for the wrong reasons, they should be having these conversations before the point of you "banning" him. I've had Zoom meetings with all of DD's teachers, online presentations and information sent home in early January. Each child has one to one support with their options as well as group support/information sessions and the teachers guide them on what is appropriate for them.

Try to get the Art teacher to help him understand what he is letting himself in for, rather than you banning it?

Is he a perfectionist? If not, might he find that a 'good enough' approach gets him a 4/5 without excessive work? .

My DS did art last year, worried me that he did very little outside of school but it didn't seem to be expected of him, and the school has an excellent reputation for art. His pal at another school had to produce 45 pieces for a portfolio and spent hours and hours on it. DS got a 6 which was fair (graphics is much more his thing than fine art really) and is now doing extremely well on graphics A level.

The information we've been sent so far really doesn't go into much detail about what's involved, which is why I'm going to speak to the teacher next week.

He's not a perfectionist, and I don't think he'll be bothered about not doing particularly well. But I fear that he won't enjoy it, and it'll become a chore.

It's not just the drawing or producing the art it is writing all the bits that go with it. I have to support a lot in Art, more than I do in History or Geog, for example because of this so

'I chose purple as a backdrop in this sketch because it has connotations of royalty and as this person is head of the household I wanted to indicate that in the picture. In this sketch, I changed to blue, with grey undertones to reflect the pensive expression in their face.' If he isn't that into it the construction is useful and may lead to further quals and employment.

This may be completely out there, but if he is very sporty, is GCSE PE an option? Also a lot of hard work I believe, but maybe a better fit than art if he actually enjoys sport to begin with?