Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design

Course details

Aims of the Exploratory Stage

This exploratory stage is where the student learns to understand the aims of the qualification and become familiar with its purpose and content.

• Students will be encouraged to research contemporary, historical and cultural contexts and precedents and to begin to relate their own emerging practices to others’ work.
• The stage will introduce the students to the attitudes and processes that will enable them to foster their own creativity and engage in self-reliant learning.
• During this stage it is expected that the student will further develop the technological and practical skills already acquired.
• Students will also learn to recognize the intrinsic formal qualities of different media as essential elements in visual communication and to build relationships between theory and practice.
• The units in this stage focus on researching, recording and observing of information as well as extending and expanding the awareness of the importance of personal responses and the role of the unfamiliar.
• Drawing and other forms of visual investigation will be critical during this stage, particularly in researching and applying 2D and 3D basic visual systems and design methodologies.

Aims of the Pathway Stage

This pathway stage aims to develop the student’s understanding and awareness of the contemporary visual world and related historical developments to provide inspiration and information, which they will be able to use in their own creative intentions in preferred specialist areas.

• Students will use recorded personal reflection on their critical understanding of contemporary visual world and related historical developments to tackle the issues within art, design, craft and communication media.
• The work that they produce will continue to challenge their preconceptions and visual awareness. It is expected that continuous reflection will enhance this developing practice and they will be able to create successful art, craft, design and communication work that involves a selective synthesis of skills, processes and understanding. This stage allows time for the analysis of interests and ambitions by evaluating skills and investigating directions to pursue and for the preparations for interview.
• This stage gives students the opportunity to identify future aims and possible progression routes by identifying a personal direction within the breadth of current creative practice.
• This is a self-revelatory process, which requires time for personal and shared reflection with peers and tutors and further develops skills that can be transferred to meeting progression needs in the future.
• Throughout this stage students should continuously extend the ways in which they exploit the characteristics and properties of chosen media, and understand that the nature of media has an influence on people’s appreciation of the form, nature and function of images and objects.

Aims of the Confirmatory Stage

This stage is internally assessed and graded.

• This stage is characterized by the expectation that students can successfully manage their own learning and personal development and that this underpins their creative and critical judgment within the chosen pathway.
• Students will develop their creative and technical skills by extending their experience and understanding of a chosen specialist area in art, craft, design and communication to help them achieve their progression ambitions.
• This will involve researching and discussing in written and visual form their understanding and insight into those aspects of contemporary and historical practice which relate most closely to their own creative intentions and preferred contexts.
• During this stage, the student should automatically integrate research and ideas into their own practice with a strong sense of continuing exploration.
• Students will be expected to take full responsibility for the direction of their work, and will be required to produce a final piece (or pieces) of work independently.
• The portfolio of work submitted for assessment should clearly demonstrate the personal direction and preoccupations of the student.
• This confirmatory study is to be a self-initiated Final Major Project (FMP) based on a Statement of Intent (SoI) which will bring together their art, craft, design and communication skills, knowledge and understanding to carry out this Final Major Project.
• Students are required to identify project objectives, clarify and agree the scope of the work.
• Students will demonstrate the management of time and resources to achieve a final outcome.
• A crucial aspect of this unit is the level of critical review and analysis that students engage with on a continuous basis throughout the confirmatory study.
• Students must also demonstrate an understanding of communicating to different audiences, eg peers, tutors and the audience viewing the final show.

Course Outline

• FDN 101: Researching, Recording and Responding in Art and Design
  • The aim of this course is to enable students to recognize the value of research when recording, preparing and devising individual responses and solutions to problems encountered. They will be encouraged to challenge their own and others’ preconceptions as a way of informing their studio practice and subsequent work.
• FDN 102: Media Experimentation in Art and Design
  • This unit will enable students to explore media and associated techniques. Students will develop experimental work and discover alternative combinations of media, considering aspects such as fitness for purpose, communication and intention. Through critical review of their work they will identify the potential in possible media applications and the essential role of these applications as a means of visual communication.
• FDN 103: Preparation and Progression in Art and Design
  • The aim of this unit is to enable students to consider the progression opportunities available to them in their specialist pathway through research, applied critical judgement and the identification of personal goals. The understanding gained will inform students’ preparation for progression.
• FDN 104: Information and Interpretation in Art and Design
  • The aim of this unit is to enable students to develop an understanding of contemporary, historical and related contexts. This will inform and inspire their own creative work and help them to develop personal intentions in preferred pathways.
• FDN 105: Personal Experimental Studies in Art and Design
  • The aim of this unit is to encourage students to bring together and develop skills in working with a range of materials and techniques as well as knowledge and understanding of the creative learning process. This will include a growing appreciation of the role of subject matter and starting points for personal work.
• FDN 106: Extended Media Development in Art and Design
  • The aim of this unit is to develop the student’s ability to propose ideas and solutions that exploit the characteristics and properties of selected media.
• FDN 110: Final Major Project in Art and Design
  • The aim of this unit is to enable students to develop skills, knowledge and understanding in initiating, researching, developing, concluding and presenting, a major art and design project.
• FDN 131: History of Art
  • Chronological survey and analysis of world art.
  • Placing major works in a historical and stylistic context.
• FDN 132: History of Islamic Art
  • Islamic Art Appreciation
  • Awareness and Contextualization of Islamic Art