Learner Voice | October 2019

Last week we ran our Learner Voice survey on the coach back from the YSP trip with our first year students. Here is the feedback we received and our responses to that feedback.  

What do you love about the art department at Thomas Rotherham College?

Facilities and Techniques – 47%

Starting off with an oldie, but a goldie…. the biggest response (by far!) this year was how much you love the facilities and techniques in the department! This feedback was a result of all the skills that Art, Graphics and Photography have learnt so far in this first term, such as intaglio, screen printing, digital work, using the cameras, and many other techniques. The darkroom by itself made up almost half of this with 21% of responses overall! All this also acknowledged that our resources are available for you to use at any time, and that it is the use and availability of the facilities overall that you really love. This is always so great to hear folks!

‘Absolutely love the resources readily available’

‘Diverse amount of resources available in department’

‘How varied the techniques we’re taught are’

‘Experimenting with all subjects such as learning to use cameras in graphics’

Friendly Atmosphere and Support from Staff – 15%

Our second most popular response was how much you loved the general atmosphere of the department and relationships with staff members. It’s really important to us that you find the department a welcoming space for you to work in, and that we are always here to help when you need it. It is always lovely to see this is indeed the case, and so many of you already feel at home here at TRC, and feel you are getting the support you need.

‘Friendly environment!’

‘Teachers are friendly – A*!

‘Teachers are lovely and care about the students’

’Open environment, teachers and students get along’

Open Door Policy and Spaces to Work In – 10%

Our open door policy is also always mentioned in our Learner Voice. It is great to hear you folks speak so positively about the department and how we encourage you all to come in and utilise the studios while you’re here at college in your free periods. This isn’t something we plan on changing any time soon, so we’re glad you appreciate this part of the department!

‘The big spaces to be as creative as we like’

‘I love the shop and that students can use computers/work in classroom at any time’

A few honourable mentions….

·         Sketchbooks (13%)

·         Freedom/Independence (9%)

·         Shop/Levi (6%)

·         Organisation and Purple Books (3%)

·         Trips (3%)

What do you wish for in the art department at Thomas Rotherham College?

Less Homework – 12%

Wouldn’t school and college be great if there wasn’t any homework eh! Alas, that is the nature of education! Here at TRC all you subjects require you to do 4 and a half hours’ worth of work outside of your lessons, whether this is done at home or during your frees at college. We realise the workload of Art, Graphics or Photography can feel overwhelming at times, however in order to achieve the grade you aspire to get, you need to put that time in, it is just the nature of the course. There was a suggestion by a couple of students to move the homework deadline to Wednesday. We’re not sure how productive this would be, given that you would still have the same amount of time to complete the work, however we understand if your lesson is early on a Monday it can be hard to get things printed and ready for that lesson. We will discuss this amongst the art team, and see if this will be possible for any particular blocks.

Unfortunately, we cannot give you more time to spend on your homework’s. The transition between school and college can feel like such a big change, particularly when it comes to workload, so we do understand how this feels to some of you. However, college prepares you for life after you leave TRC, and helps you improve your personal skills to be more organised and independent with your work. Challenges such as a tackling a demanding workload should not be seen as a negative but as evidence to your level of commitment and effort which is rewarded in the end.. Masterpieces take time to blossom!

More guillotines (specifically in the darkroom!) – 10%

I think this is the lowest percentage of responses for guillotines in the history of Learner Voice! We now have four guillotines in the department which (although they are always busy!) do seem to be enough for our current students’ numbers. However, as this was still mentioned by a few of you, we still need to respond to this request. One of our guillotine’s costs just under £400, which is a lot of money! We cannot currently justify spending that amount, particularly when only 10% of the department overall have asked for it, so this currently isn’t doable unfortunately, sorry folks!

However, half of these requests were actually for a guillotine in the darkroom! Seen as the only way to cut paper in there is to use scissors, which isn’t very accurate. We will look into purchasing a cheap, A4 guillotine for those of you that feel this would benefit you when using the darkroom. We will see how much these are and see what we can do!

More Trips – 10%

Yes please! For the last few years we have always run a YSP trip with our first years in October, and the Manchester trip in February for our A2s at the start of their ESA. We are looking this year at making the A2 Manchester trip a residential which would include a stay over in Liverpool. We also introduced last year a trip down to ROAR to do life drawing with our Art and Graphics students, as well as a trip to Wentworth Woodhouse with Photography. So you do have at least 2 more trips coming up before you finish the course!

However, according to college policy, students are only allowed 3 days out for each academic year, and you have probably realised by now our course is pretty none stop every lesson! So it would also be quite difficult to fit another trip into our scheme of work. But we encourage you all to visit galleries independently in your own time as the experience of going and seeing artwork is so valuable, and can really help you to raise your grade in your subject.

More Spare Equipment Available/Cheaper Materials – 8%

In a perfect world, we wouldn’t ask you to pay for any materials and let you use everything for free as and when you needed it. However, this unfortunately just cannot be the case. All our materials are bought at wholesale price, and sold at cost price, so we make no money on our materials at all. But we do need to make back the money it has cost us, or else we would be in some serious debt! This also applies to having more materials out to use in the classrooms. Whenever we have left materials like glue sticks out, they always just seem to mysteriously vanish! Much like scissors and rolls of tape seem to! It would be too costly for us to lend out anything more than we currently do, even equipment like paint brushes either just disappear into thin air or are not taken care of properly and are left unusable for other students. So unfortunately, we cannot make this possible. 

More Freedom/Start Personal Projects Sooner – 7%

The project you are currently working on is called ‘Exploring Media’, which runs until just after Christmas. This first half of the year is dedicated to helping you learn all the skills required to embark on your own personal project when you start your ‘Major Coursework Project’. It is in these first few months that you will develop your skills as well as help you realise where your strengths lie, and what you enjoy. Therefore, it is necessary to have these lessons so that when you do start your own work, you feel confident in your skills. So keep it up – your own personal projects are just around the corner!

Different Chairs in Art Room – 7%

An unsual request! But we did actually get this on our last A2 learner voice as well, so you may be onto something here! One student this year has specifically asked for backs on the chairs to make them more comfortable. As we said in our last Learner Voice, we realise these aren’t the most comfortable chairs in the world, but they do the job! They have to be that height due to our tables being quite high, and the logistics of the art studio mean any bigger chairs would be too cumbersome and mean even less space up here! We can’t afford to replace all our chairs upstairs with our current budget as it is not a priority, so they will just have to do folks, sorry!

More/Better Computers – 5%

We would LOVE more computers! Our computer area seems to get busier and fuller every year, so we would love to have more computers for our students to work on. However the main issue with this isn’t just the cost implications, but space! More computers would mean dedicating more space in the downstairs room to them, and working space downstairs feels small enough as it is! Unless we were to have an extension – which we would also LOVE – we can’t make space for more computers.

One student also requested iMacs for the department, this would not be possible due to the college not having the infrastructure to support Apple computers. Also, we do not think we would benefit from using Apple over Windows, each can be used to a high technical level when used correctly, and having more expensive equipment does not automatically mean better quality work. Our computers are a tool just as our printmaking equipment is for example, it is the way you use it that matters, so make sure you use it creatively in order to produce a high standard of work. Don’t rely on fancy, showy off equipment to make your work shine - use your skills and talent!

More Space to Work in Frees – 5%

Again, unless we were to have an extension built on our department, there isn’t much we can do about this unfortunately! We try and utilise the space we have as best we can every year to create working space for classwork and students working in frees. Next year we can always have a look at rejigging things to try and accommodate even more outside working space. Remember even if you are a single endorsement student, you are always welcome to use other areas of the department, for example Graphics and Photography students, you are welcome to use the tables upstairs when working in your frees.  

Nothing! – 5%

This is always lovely to hear! Thank you! 

More Print Credits/Better Printer – 4%

This is something we get year after year, and this isn’t something we are actually in control of! Printer credits are dealt with at the LRC, and how much you receive does not go through us. However, as this always gets mentioned in Learner Voice, we have managed in the past to get more printer credits for Art, Graphics and Photography students as you do require more than other students’ round college. We will keep fighting your corner with this! 

A few honourable mentions….

More chance to use textiles

We do have a sewing machine in the department which you are welcome to use anytime. As we don’t normally have a high demand for textile work, we don’t have that much equipment or materials related to it to hand. However if you are wanting to incorporate textiles in your work when you start your coursework feel free to come and chat to me (Patience!) about what equipment you would like to use, and I can have a look at ordering some in if there is a demand for it 😊

Intro Lesson to Photoshop

We are hoping to create a handful of basic tutorials on YouTube to help those who feel they need a bit more support with Photoshop. These should be up by the end of the year for anyone to look at and use. Hopefully this will help with this a bit!

Print in Glossy Paper on Other Printers in College

I will speak to Reprographics about whether this is possible, even if it is just on one of the LRC printers, it would be really helpful I’m sure for a lot of students! 

3D Printer

Would be amazing! But the cost and technicalities of this are not possible at this moment in time. 

121s to say what we’re doing well and what we need to improve

You will start receiving 121s regularly once you start your Major Coursework Project.

Some limited resources e.g no basic acrylics

I’m not sure what this response meant, but if this meant that we don’t have a lot of resources out like basic acrylics, I can assure you we do! We have all the primary acrylics in cool and warm colours, as well as white. We also have a lot of materials out in the classrooms such as pencils, scissors, tape, pastels etc, which are all located in the material drawers at the back of the room upstairs, and next to the teacher desk downstairs. 

Epson Scanners

We have scanners! There have been a few technicalities with the ones connected to the computer, but these should all be working now. We also have the printer which doubles up as a scanner! You can use this whenever you need to 😊