Art subjects are a way of judging a student's creative flair - but should there be a strict way of grading this type of work? As art is subjective, this is a very controversial and difficult topic to face, so in this essay I will provide research both for and against the grading system of art subjects in a school environment to provide a balanced argument with pro’s and con’s.
For some first hand information as to how the subjects are actually graded, I asked my Gold Arts teacher for a mark scheme that is used in the department as a whole. This way, I would gain a realistic insight into how fairly the work is actually being graded. At first glance, the grading system was much broader than I expected it to be. I previously had understanding of work being graded by A01, A02, A03 and A04 - but thought it would go into much more detail when teachers were officially grading the work. In my opinion, this way of grading through assessment objectives is a fair way, as it is not restrictive of an individual's artwork, and allows their unique skills to shine through while also being assessed on general objectives. To get top marks, a student must be successful in all 4 assessment objectives, however a student can produce great art but would lose out on marks if they, for example, find it difficult to record their findings in a variety of ways. Then again, the argument comes up of what actually is great art, and does great art and less great art even exist?
AO1 is grading the students ability to develop their work. This includes detailed investigations to figure out how successful/unsuccessful a certain sample was, and give reasons and ways to improve. This is, in my opinion, a good thing to grade on as it is showing the students problem-solving skills rather than judging their physical work. AO2 is grading the experimental aspects of the students' work. This is looking at how technically accurate the students' ability to select specific and appropriate resources and materials to use in their work. I feel that the experimental aspect of reviewing and refining their work is fair to be graded on, as it shows the students' understanding of what works well with their personal project, again rather than judging how the actual piece looks. AO3 is judging the students ability to record their progress visually, whether that be through photos, writing down their ideas, or other ways. I believe that this is very important in judging a student's work as it allows examiners/teachers to actually see the thought process and progress of the students while they are producing their work, and not just the final outcome alone. Finally, AO4 is judging how a student's work is presented.
Despite all of this, I do think that the aesthetics of the final piece is also important, and even if all assessment objectives are met, an unappealing and lacking quality end result shows that the student does not have the greatest eye for technique. Having said this, there is still the opposite argument that there is no right way to do art - something that I may like, another student may not like, but whatever that piece is it is still considered art.
To get the top grades, students must be good at and able to show strong qualities of all four assessment objectives. When looking at it in this light, it seems as though the way art subjects are graded seem fair. As well as this, the objectives are in place to see how well a student can respond to set tasks. This is therefore still allowing the student to create individual work
To research this issue further and get opinions from the teachers who actually grade student’s work using this system, I sent out a survey to all the art department teachers to get their view on the controversial issue. Asking a variety of questions including multiple choice and qualitative, longer answer questions, I was able to gather a wealth of information as to how the teachers feel on the issue.
Overall, my final argument is that despite the subjectivity of art, the grading system used in a school environment is fair and doesn’t restrict a student's creativity. The assessment objectives grade a students work without being biased, and is more focused on recording a students thought process and actions taken during their project, rather than the actual outcome itself. This way, it's almost as if the subjects are graded in an academic way - like a mark scheme but instead on the physical actions the student makes. With this being said, with some examiners and teachers there is no guaranteed un-biased grading as I think it is inevitable that their opinion of the art itself will take over. Without a grading system for every teacher/examiner to follow, there would be no consistency of grades as it would all be up to interpretation - this could be even more harmful to the students grades as they would be unreflective of their individual work in relation to grading as a whole.
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