Visual ArtsQ&A by dot point

AO1, Critical understanding, develop ideas through investigations demonstrating critical understanding of sources: building a focused line of enquiry from contextual and first-hand sources, weighing and responding to each source rather than copying it, and letting the investigation keep deepening across the project. AO1 is one of four equally weighted objectives (25 percent each).

AO2, Creative making, refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes: trying media purposefully, reviewing what each attempt teaches you, and selecting and improving towards a stronger outcome rather than repeating one safe technique. AO2 is one of four equally weighted objectives (25 percent each).

AO3, Reflective recording, record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions as work progresses: recording first-hand and continuously through drawing, photography, notes and annotation, keeping it relevant to the intention, and using annotation to capture reflection and decisions. AO3 is one of four equally weighted objectives (25 percent each).

AO4, Personal presentation, present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and demonstrates understanding of visual language: producing a final outcome that resolves the project, connects clearly to the development that led to it, and uses the formal elements deliberately to carry meaning. AO4 is one of four equally weighted objectives (25 percent each).

How the four assessment objectives map onto the creative process (a cyclical record, develop, refine and realise journey rather than four separate tasks), the fact that the AOs are equally weighted at 25 percent each and applied to both units, that work is marked holistically against bands and totalled across the units, and that the qualification is graded on the 9 to 1 scale.

The two-unit structure of WJEC GCSE Art and Design for Wales (Unit 1 Portfolio at 60 percent and Unit 2 Externally Set Assignment at 40 percent), the fact that it is a wholly practical, coursework qualification with no written exam, that both units are internally set or marked by the centre and externally moderated by WJEC, and the endorsed titles such as Art, Craft and Design and Fine Art.

Critical and contextual studies in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: analysing the work of artists, craftspeople and designers and the movements, periods and cultures they belong to, using the formal elements and questions of context, meaning and process, and connecting that analysis to a next step in your own work so it serves AO1 rather than sitting as decoration.

The formal elements that make up visual language in WJEC GCSE Art and Design (line, tone, colour, shape, form, texture, pattern and composition, with scale), what each contributes, and how using them deliberately to communicate, rather than as decoration, is what 'understanding of visual language' in AO4 means and underpins AO2 and AO3.

How to evidence and present work in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: keeping a well-organised sketchbook and presentation sheets so the line of enquiry is visible from a starting point through investigation, recording and refinement to the outcome, using annotation to show thinking, so a moderator can follow all four assessment objectives, which is part of what AO4 (Personal presentation) rewards.

An overview of Unit 1, the Portfolio, in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: the 60 percent practical unit built up during the course on centre-set starting points, containing a selection of work that shows a sustained journey from a theme through investigation, recording and refinement to one or more finished outcomes, evidencing all four assessment objectives, internally marked and externally moderated by WJEC.

An overview of Unit 2, the Externally Set Assignment, in WJEC GCSE Art and Design: the 40 percent, 80-mark practical unit answering a theme from a WJEC-set paper, in two parts (a preparatory period of supporting studies and a final outcome made in 10 hours of sustained focus under supervision), evidencing all four assessment objectives, internally marked and externally moderated by WJEC.