The Diploma Programme visual arts syllabus provides a framework that allows teachers to choose content and activities appropriate to both their students’ interests and experience and their own. When constructing a course of study, the teacher must bear in mind the visual arts assessment criteria and the specific requirements for the assessment tasks explained in this guide.

Teachers should design their courses of study according to:

• the cultural background, personal needs and abilities of the students

• the nature of the school

• their own expertise.

Because these factors vary considerably, the precise syllabus content is not specified but is generated by the teacher and students. In accordance with the aims and assessment objectives listed in this guide, each school’s course of study should reflect the distinctive international perspective of the Diploma Programme in individual ways. This flexibility is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the visual arts course.

An integrated relationship between studio work and investigation work is essential throughout the course.

Option A (HL and SL)

Option A is designed for students who wish to concentrate on studio practice in visual arts. Students will produce investigation workbooks to support, inform, develop and refine studio work through sustained contextual, visual and critical investigation.

At both HL and SL, the investigation workbooks are integral to studio practice and should reflect the student’s critical visual and written investigation.

Course structure

The course of study devised by teachers should enable students in studio work and investigation workbooks to develop their knowledge about visual arts, and should allow for individual exploration.

Teachers should provide opportunities for students to develop different approaches to the practices of visual arts. They should encourage students to develop their own perspectives and approaches and should not impose their own: students’ interests and aesthetic preferences should play a prominent role in determining individual courses of study. Contextual and critical study of past, present-day and emerging practice should be integrated into studio work.

Learning outcomes

Throughout the course, teachers should help students to:

• develop the skills and techniques of investigation—both visual and written

• relate art to its cultural and historical contexts

• explore art concepts

• explore art elements

• develop and use the processes of art criticism and analysis

• develop confidence and expertise in the use of various media

• extend their knowledge of design

• share their work with an audience through displays and exhibitions or presentations

• extend individual investigation to inform practical work

• make connections between ideas and practice—both their own and others’.

Scheduling

Depending on school facilities and the flexibility of teaching schedules, it should be possible to teach both HL and SL students in the same group.

The school schedule should allow time for a visual arts student to become seriously involved with creative work in the studio. Therefore, short periods of time for work in the studio should be avoided: set-up time and clean-up time must be taken into account.

Allocating a sufficient proportion of the recommended teaching hours (240 hours at HL; 150 hours at SL) to each component is crucial to the success of the course of study at each level. For each option, the following breakdown in teaching hours is recommended.

	HLA	SLA
Studio work	144 hours	90 hours
Investigation workbooks	96 hours	60 hours

Within this timeframe, teachers need to allow for sufficient hours to be given to arranging and setting up the exhibition (mandatory for option A; optional for option B).

Studio work

Students should be introduced to art concepts and techniques through practical work in the studio. To support students’ abilities to express themselves in visual arts, teachers should include, at both HL and SL, opportunities for a structured approach to:

• the exploration of media, including the use of material and equipment

• the exploration and development of artistic qualities in visual arts

• the study of relationships between form, meaning and content in visual arts

• the study of a variety of social and cultural functions of visual arts

• the appreciation and evaluation of their own work and that of others.

The development of studio techniques is essential to help students explore the potential for expression and to understand the relationship between theory and practice.

Teachers should facilitate wide-ranging independent investigation, which could be of a more experimental nature but also one that is concerned with form, meaning and content. Students should be encouraged to explore art, craft and design traditions from past, present and emerging cultural backgrounds, and local, national and international contexts.

At the end of the course, option A students should have produced studio work that communicates their understanding of conceptual content, their technical skill and their sense of critical awareness. They should also have developed an understanding of the artistic process from the generation of initial ideas through the various stages that lead to the completion of a final studio work.

At the end of the course, option B students should have a selection of studio work that has evolved from their in-depth contextual, visual and critical investigation. The studio work should be finished.

All work produced by option A and option B students needs to reflect personal involvement and be linked to the investigation contained in their workbooks.

Choice of media

Artistic understanding and expression may be taught through various media from painting to puppetry, calligraphy to computer graphics, and sculpture to conceptual art. Students may demonstrate technical competence in various ways, provided their course of study includes an introduction to art elements, concepts and techniques. All work, both visual and written, should be documented in the investigation workbooks.

When discussing the choice of media, teachers should help students to discover their individual strengths. Students should be made aware that the studio work assessment criteria reward the pursuit of ideas in a variety of media (students should not be discouraged from combining several media), the development of original approaches, the discovery of creative solutions and the acquisition of technical skills. However, students should be reminded that quality work that shows a developing maturity of artistic understanding at the end of the course is preferable to work that shows a superficial acquaintance with a large number of different skills and techniques.

As with all choices of media, visual arts students who wish to work in alternative or emerging media must remember that this is a visual arts course and their work will be assessed against criteria specific to visual arts.

Students must, in conjunction with their teachers, do the following.

• Refer to the visual arts assessment criteria

• Document, both visually and in writing, the work in their investigation workbooks

Collaborative work

The final assessment is an individual one and if students wish to work collaboratively on a project, teachers must ensure that the project is fully documented in each student’s investigation workbooks. Students who work collaboratively on a visual arts project must document their individual input and show evidence of their individual achievement. It is also essential for teachers and students to refer to the visual arts assessment criteria.

Investigation workbooks

The purpose of the investigation workbooks is to encourage personal investigation into visual arts, which must be closely related to the studio work undertaken. The relative importance of the investigation workbooks depends on whether the student has chosen option A or option B.

The investigation workbooks should incorporate contextual, visual and critical investigation. They should function as working documents and support the student’s independent, informed investigation and studio practice. Investigation workbooks provide an opportunity for reflection and discovery and they play a key role in allowing ideas to take shape and grow. They should contain visual and written material that address contextual, visual and critical aspects of the investigation. They should also reflect the student’s interests and include wide-ranging first-hand investigations into issues and ideas related to visual arts. There should be a balance in the investigation between analytical and open-ended discussion, illustrating the student’s creative thinking.

It is important to refer to the definition of “investigate” as used in this guide. (Please see the “Glossary of action verbs” section at the end of this guide.)

Making connections

Teachers should encourage students to make creative connections in the work they do through open-ended exploration and experimentation. For example, students might initially begin their investigation by working through an idea, theme or issue, then making comparisons, cross-referencing, and thinking laterally. This can give the work a sense of unity and continuity. One idea, theme or issue may be the connecting thread throughout the course or may naturally promote the investigation of another or others.

Students should be taught to develop strategies and skills that enable them to make informed decisions about the direction of their investigation, taking advantage of the resources that are available in their locality. They should also be encouraged to present arguments and points of view.

Content guidelines

The content of the investigation workbooks can vary considerably, but must show evidence of investigation into artistic qualities and cultural contexts from different cultures and times. (A culture can be described as learned and shared beliefs, values, interests, attitudes, products or patterns of behaviour. Culture is dynamic and organic and operates on many levels—international, national, regional, local and social interest groups.) A developing use of the specialist vocabulary of visual arts is expected.

• Workbooks are working journals that should reflect personal approaches, styles and interests. They are not simply scrapbooks, sketchbooks or diaries but may be a combination of all three. They may contain weak initial ideas and false starts, but these should not be seen as mistakes and can be used as a means of identifying a student’s progress over the course.

• While the teacher is expected to guide and support the students, workbooks should reflect students’ personal interests. Students should be encouraged to investigate “around” ideas, themes and issues, make links and connections, speculate, hypothesize and draw conclusions that may support or challenge artistic conventions. The work should be presented in a way that is appropriate to visual arts, rather than as isolated ideas or formal essays.

• Information may be recorded in a variety of ways. This is a good opportunity for visual experimentation, and may be both critical and creative. Written work must be legible and all sources, both written and visual, must always be acknowledged properly.

• Meetings with local artists, and visits to museums, galleries and libraries, provide first-hand opportunities for investigation. Students’ personal responses to these visits should be documented in the workbooks and may well influence some of the studio work they produce.

• Class notes and handouts should only be included in the workbooks if appropriate. Visual material should be relevant to the investigation and not simply used to fill space. Photographs, copies and magazine cut-outs are acceptable if they are relevant to the investigation, are accompanied by an explanation or critical comment and are acknowledged properly. Copying from Internet sites, books and other secondary sources without personal and critical reflection should be avoided.

• Teacher feedback in the workbooks should include pertinent comments, questions, pointers to resources and constructive criticism. (As students often value their workbooks as a personal record of their artistic development, it may be appropriate for teacher observations to be presented in such a way that they can be removed after the examination session is closed.)

Format

• The recommended format for the investigation workbooks is bound with unlined pages, rather than loose-leaf.

• Entries must be dated and kept in chronological order. Pages must be numbered for cross-referencing ideas, themes or issues that run through the investigation workbooks. (Care should also be taken to leave the top right-hand corner of each page free, in order to allow the candidate session number to be included.)

• Students should be advised that legibility is extremely important. Blue-black or black ink is recommended for writing.

• Although black and white copies (A4/letter-size) of the representative pages selected for assessment purposes are acceptable, students should consider, where possible, using colour copies for pages that clearly refer to colour and/or media experiments relating to the use of colour.

Health and safety guidelines

All schools are required to follow health and safety guidelines during their studio work and mounting of exhibitions to standard regulations, as appropriate. Each school should recognize and accept its responsibilities and obligations as an institution offering visual arts to provide a safe and healthy working environment, and is ultimately responsible for the health and safety of students and staff in all visual arts work.