item-35.-bolton-college.-analysis-of-problems-besetting-the-art-and-design-course.-01.09.10

FAO Kevin Nash, Director of Adult Learning and Higher Education, Bolton College

BOLTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE
BTEC NATIONAL CERTIFICATE (19+) 2008-2011

ART & DESIGN

In the absence of any genuine two-way dialogue with senior management, I believe
after due reflection that I have now at last identified to my own satisfaction the root
cause of the enduring difficulties in connection with the above Bolton College course
– namely: the “assessment days” set aside for staff out of teaching time.

These have distorted the course in the following ways:-

(1) For tutor-lecturers. The days in question promote the erroneous assumption that all
remunerated obligations can be met exclusively within teaching-contact time provided
that actual teaching is from time-to-time suspended for the benefit of staff. As a result
of this assumption staff are failing in the planning of their input to devote the
extra-curricular time necessary to programme-in the acquisition of skills in a clear
hierarchy, and the continuous assessment of these skills as and when (or if) they are
achieved. Hence, work produced in class over the period of the module may be
directionless and largely ignored by the tutor – at least to the extent that there is no
storage-and-retrieval system for students’ work and no system for signalling to the
students that the creation of such work has been noted and assessed. Unfortunately, it
is not in the interests of staff to remedy this deficiency, since it would entail more
work for them both within and outside of teaching-time – despite generous holidays
on full pay. This has resulted in a kind of “work to rule” which would create
enormous difficulties in schools, but is just about tenable in a college for adults
because of the following consideration:

(2) For students. The existence of the assessment-days, paramount in the perceptions
of both tutors and students, leads to an undue emphasis on a so-called “final piece,”
the very existence of which may be unjustified by national assessment criteria. This
“final piece,” invariably submitted by students in the “eleventh hour” (metaphorically
speaking) before assessment-days, may be and usually is produced at home without
benefit of input from either tutors or fellow-students. While this way of proceeding
may be convenient to tutors, allowing them to make (in terms of encroachments on
their own private time) optimal use of the allocated assessment-day, it is disastrous in
student-centred educational terms: the students’ established bad habits and stagnant
preconceptions may remain unchallenged in the work, and existing Level 2 skills
undeveloped to a higher level. For the tutors, Assessment becomes a box-ticking
exercise with work presented for the assessment-day, rather than a creative
engagement and dialogue with students as they progress. In short, exclusively
summative assessment poses as formative assessment in the light of criteria which are
addenda to the teaching-programme, rather than integral to it. Students are willing to
collude with this state of affairs since they are able to remain largely within their
comfort-zone – and need the qualification.

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These concerns have been put (with varying degrees of success) to different members
of staff and management, and extensive written representations have been made. I
have withdrawn from the course for an entire academic year so that the College was
allowed time to put its house in order once we have overcome the hurdle of ill-
considered attempts to silence the expression of my concerns. In the event, little
seems to have happened, even towards remedying issues such as missing assessments
and lost work.

The situation is exacerbated by the totally misleading impression of the course created
by the so-called “taster” sessions. Here, students do not need to be formally assessed
and therefore the fate of work produced is not an issue as it is in the “real” course.
Meanwhile, because staff are aware that “bums must be put on seats” if they are to be
in work and get paid, the input is well-structured and students may go away feeling
that they have learned something new. Alas, in my experience this is not carried over
(as things stand) into the main body of the course.

At the time of writing, unless I receive some clear assurance that best use has been
made by the College of the voluntary hiatus in my education, I shall conclude with
regret that my continuation on the course is a waste of my time.

Phillip Vere
phillip.vere@googlemail.com
1st September 2010

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