On the way back from our Manchester Trip with the A2 students we conducted a Learner Voice. See below what came about and our response 😊
What do you love about Art/Graphics/Photography at Thomas Rotherham College?
Staff/Support/Environment = 35%
We are pleased to hear that you are enjoying your time in the department and the courses you are studying. Having this feedback at the top of the list again makes what we do mean that much more. This department means so much to each of us and we are glad that our efforts to support you, help your creativity flourish and create a safe environment don’t go unnoticed. It’s important to us that each of you feel comfortable to be who you are as artists and people, as well as feel supported in learning new things. We couldn’t create such a wonderful environment without all of you bringing your joy, excitement, talents and enthusiasm though, so thank you for choosing TRC for your studies!
“The teachers are really kind and make me feel comfortable/understood” - Art
“Safe space to express yourself” – Photography
“I love the environment, all the support the staff give and always push you to your best!” - Graphics
Techniques & Facilities = 31%
It’s important to us that you all get the best chance to try a range of techniques with the best equipment possible, so knowing that you appreciate the opportunity to push your creativity is great to hear.
“The unique experiments we get to do” - Art
“Lots of resources/equipment, so almost nothing is impossible” - Graphics
Creative Freedom = 16%
As a creative department it is important to us that you feel comfortable to have the independence to make the art that resonates with you. All of you bring unique talent and experience, and it brings us such joy watching you develop your ideas and seeing where your journey ends up.
“The freedom to explore different techniques and concepts” – Photography
Trips & Outdoor Lessons = 8%
After the last few years of distance learning, lock downs and isolating ourselves, it’s nice to get back to trips and lessons outdoors, (even if just to the rugby field). We are pleased to hear you enjoy this change of pace and find it really inspiring.
Open-door System = 6%
The open-door system proves to still be popular with you all and that’s great. Having the space to work on your sketchbooks, outcomes and photoshoots is an incredibly useful tool and we endeavour to continue bringing you this space.
Lesson Resources/organisation & Course Information = 4%
So much time and planning is used to create your lesson resources like purple books, powerpoints, technique videos and Pinterest boards, so it’s nice to hear that you appreciate these and find them useful.
What do you wish for in Art/Graphics/Photography at Thomas Rotherham College?
Support/Guidance/Praise/Encouragement = 18%
Your work planner slides that are up on the board at the start of each lesson identify all the work set in class and for your homework that week. This is essentially a step-by-step guide of what needs to be done that week, how to do it, and specifically what needs to be included on that sketchbook page (sketchbook bingo!). If for any reason you find that this information isn’t clear as to what you need to do, clarify this with your teacher at the start of the week. We sometimes have students not understand the task set and arrive to their lesson a week later without their homework because they ‘did not know what they were doing’. This is not an excuse! Make sure you read through the work planner slides thoroughly and use all the resources available to you to help with this. Your student resource files have PowerPoints, handouts, and your homework-go-to-guide to help you with specific tasks. We also have our Pinterest page which has a wealth of examples on to support you with presentation, as well as researching artists.
Ultimately, if you feel you need more feedback on your work, or explanations of the tasks set, this is down to you as a student to make your teacher aware of this so they can support you. We are always here to help you, so never be afraid to ask for it! And if a task isn’t clear, it may not just be you that is struggling with it, so this also help others in your class who are in the same position as you.
It is unfortunate that some of you don’t feel that you are praised for the work you create and want you to know this is not our intention. When you produce beautiful prints or build something fantastic, we get so excited and like to take even a quick moment to let you know that. Please know that we take pleasure in seeing you succeed and really enjoy putting things together for the exhibition to show off your talents as deserved.
More/Better Resources = 18%
We do our absolute best to bring you the best resources and a big variety of techniques for you to try. If you can think of anything that needs an update, or anything techniques you’d like to see please let us know and we can investigate this. A few people mentioned paints, and this is something we are in the process of working on, (i.e. the new pumps for acrylic). We’ll keep looking further into this but please keep in mind that the resources life spans are a direct result of the care you give them when using them or washing up.
More Trips = 12%
Now Covid seems to be behind us, *touch wood*, we’d really like to get out and about more as it’s not only a great opportunity for you but a nice change of pace for ourselves too. Most of those that gave this feedback wanted to get out to see landscapes, go overnight somewhere or even go abroad. Overnight trips and abroad are much more complicated to plan, (and will be significantly more expensive), but on location trips sounds like a good idea that we can discuss further.
Chairs/Stools = 10%
This has understandably been suggested by the Art and Graphics students as those stools are high and uncomfortable after a while! This is something we want to look at changing long term, we just need to work out the logistics of this.
Bigger Space/More Open-door Availability = 8%
We appreciate that the Open-door space has decreased as the class sizes have gotten bigger. Unfortunately, we can’t make the classrooms any bigger than they are however, we have started to open both up and downstairs up on Wednesday after classes when no other lessons are running. This is available to everyone and we are less limited on space here as there are no classes in the department. (Wednesday 3pm – 4:15pm)
There is also always someone in the department from around 8.10, so if you ever want to come in early you are welcome to come and use the rooms. The doors are locked before 8.30, so if you can’t get in at the front, you can use the canteen doors round the back.
Deadlines/Workload = 6%
We truly appreciate that your courses are jam packed and can feel very overwhelming at times, (especially when you study multiple of them). You should all be so proud of the work you produce under such tight deadlines, as we know this is hard to achieve and we do understand the heavy workload involved in this. The work we set is always a tricky balancing act, where we want to ensure you produce as much work as you can to create a complete and refined project that sufficiently meets all the assessment objectives, while also not overloading you and making deadlines unrealistic. Our schemes of work and the trajectory of the course are constantly under review week by week to make sure everyone is managing the workload effectively and also when looking how we can create more opportunities for you to gain marks!
Lower Shop Prices = 6%
We understand how you feel about this, (it makes us sad too), but unfortunately due to the current climate prices have seen a dramatic increase. We spend a considerable amount of time checking alternative supplies for resources and we promise we are getting everything from the cheapest suppliers out there. We want you to know that we don’t have a shop to profit and that the items you buy are at the cost price that we get them stocked for.
Nothing = 6%
To have even a small portion of you say ‘nothing’ makes us so happy. We endeavour to make your studies here as good as they possibly can be and that’s why we do these survey’s. So, a big thank you to all of you who contribute to making us better staff and push us to making your courses the best!
Notable Mentions:
Card Machine – To be continued… 😏
Heating – Patience agrees but unfortunately this is out of our hands. 😞
Suggestion Box – We have had these in the past, as well as student representatives. We want to get back to utilising these options again now Covid is past us.
