A-level Art and Design (Art, craft and design)₇₂₀₁

1.1 Why choose AQA for A-level Art and Design

It’s a fact that AQA is the UK’s favourite exam board and more students receive their GCSE, AS and A-level qualifications from AQA than from any other board. But why does AQA continue to be so popular?

Specifications designed for you and your students

Our specifications and assessments have been designed to the highest standards, so that teachers, students and their parents can be confident that an AQA award provides an accurate measure of students' achievements.

The flexibility of the previous specification has been retained so that students can focus on an area of personal interest and you can create courses which play to your school or college's strengths.

The specifications directly support progression to further and higher education in Art and Design and related subjects, as well as providing all students with a platform to inspire a lifelong interest in, and enjoyment of, Art and Design.

They also offer logical progression from GCSE as the assessment objectives, structure and titles are very similar to those specified in the AQA GCSE Art and Design specification.

Our difference

AQA is a registered charity. We have no shareholders to pay. We exist solely for the good of education in the UK. Any surplus income is ploughed back into educational research and our service to you, our customers. We don’t profit from education, you do.

If you are an existing customer then we thank you for your support. If you are thinking of moving to AQA then we look forward to welcoming you.

You can find out about all of our Art and Design qualifications at aqa.org.uk/art-and-design

1.2 Support and resources to help you teach

We know that support and resources are vital for your teaching and that you have limited time to find or develop good quality materials. So we’ve worked with experienced teachers to provide you with a range of resources that will help you confidently plan, teach and prepare for assessments.

Teaching resources

We have a comprehensive range of Art and Design resources. Visit aqa.org.uk/7201 to see them all. They include:

• Schemes of work : a variety of ideas across all titles to help you plan your course with confidence.
• Teacher guides : further advice on researching and developing ideas; critical/contextual work; drawing; sketchbooks, workbooks and journals; written material; presenting work and managing the Portfolio, Personal investigation and Externally set assignment.
• Example materials : that showcase sets of students' work supported by examiner commentaries and guidance.

Support service

• Teacher standardisation: we offer over 40 free teacher standardisation meetings nationally, using exhibitions of live work, covering all titles and a range of marks at each level.
• Subject advisory service: each school or college is allocated a subject adviser. You can contact them for one-to-one advice on any aspect of the subject, assessment and/or support with planning and delivery of course content.
• Subject community: provides access to free resources and services offered by museums, galleries, universities and art colleges.
• Support meetings: to help you with course delivery; offering practical teaching strategies and approaches that really work.

  To find out more about our support service visit aqa.org.uk/7201

Preparing for assessment

Visit aqa.org.uk/7201 for everything you need to prepare for our assessments, including:

• past papers and examiners’ reports
• sample papers
• example student work with examiner commentaries.

Analyse your students' results with Enhanced Results Analysis (ERA)

Find out how your results compare to previous years and where your students need to improve. ERA, our free online results analysis tool, will help you see where to focus your teaching. Register at aqa.org.uk/era

For information about results, including maintaining standards over time, grade boundaries and our post-results services, visit aqa.org.uk/results

Keep your skills up to date with professional development

Wherever you are in your career, there’s always something new to learn. As well as subject-specific training, we offer a range of courses to help boost your skills:

• improve your teaching skills in areas including differentiation, teaching literacy and meeting Ofsted requirements
• help you prepare for a new role with our leadership and management courses.

You can attend a course at venues around the country, in your school or online – whatever suits your needs and availability. Find out more at coursesandevents.aqa.org.uk

Get help and support

Visit our website for information, guidance, support and resources at aqa.org.uk/7201

You can talk directly to the Art and Design subject team:

E: art@aqa.org.uk

T: 01483 437 750