Date of Award

1989

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Education Honours

School

School of Education

First Supervisor

Tony Monk

Abstract

Assessment in the field of Art Education has always been difficult. The subjective element has caused art to be considered a controversial subject in school as far as assessment is concerned. Different educators have argued for and against the necessity of assessment. The literature has shown that if art is to be taken seriously in school, it must be subjected to formal assessment. It was found that while there were studies about evaluation and assessment in art and studies about attitudes to art, little has been written on attitudes to art assessment. This research set out to examine the attitudes towards assessment in art of Year 12 Art students and Year 12 Art teachers in Western Australia. Art is an accredited "A"' subject in upper secondary school in Western Australia and may be used for tertiary entrance requirements. The Secondary Education Authority of Western Australia has guidelines for school assessment for Year 12 Art. These guidelines allocate 20-25% of the school mark to a Visual Diary which documents the evolution of studio projects. The Visual Diary is also submitted for external assessment and forms 50% of the external mark. It may, therefore, play an important part in a student's tertiary entrance score. This research is concerned with how Year 12 Art students and teachers felt about different issues relating to the Visual Diary. Year 12 Art students and Year 12 Art teachers were surveyed and members of the Joint Syllabus Committee for Art were interviewed to gauge attitudes to the assessment of the Visual Diary. The results showed that both students, teachers and committee members felt that the Studio component, which accounted for 50% of the school -based mark, was being de-emphasised. Generally students and teachers felt that there was a need for a review of the assessment structures for Year 12 Art. The researcher offers seven recommendations from the data collected. The most significant include the external assessment of Studio, the restructuring of assessment procedures and guidelines to help students form a more positive image of the Visual Diary. As the assessment model currently being used in Western Australia is relatively new, the research should help educators to reconsider different aspects of the current Year 12 Art course before the procedures become entrenched. It could also provide a spring- board for further research.

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