This website explores ideas about AI that have evolved through research and experimentation since 2022. It provides evidence that teachers could use AI to model curriculum and programmes of study options that take account of their specific school’s, teachers’ and students’ context. The ideas in this website are founded on the principle of art teachers’ ownership of their own curriculum and, that AI can be used to generate a variety of options which will support teachers’ thinking and the choices that THEY make about THEIR curriculum.

There is sufficient evidence here that, with appropriate prompts, AI can now generate informed and ‘good enough’ curriculum models which adhere to contemporary educational concepts, practices and learning processes. It seems inevitable that art teachers, like teachers in all other subjects, will come to use AI to support their professional practice.

The evolution of AI calls into question the traditional curriculum change process. This is predicated on ‘experts’ generating generic curriculum examples which are based on a hypothetical school which does not exist, and consequently does not take into account a teacher’s individual context.  After decades of various iterations of a national curriculum, the issue now, for teachers, is not understanding the new curriculum, but the time it takes to amend and adapt the experts’ hypothetical examples into their own programme of study, key stage and lesson plans which are appropriate for their classroom.

The curriculum and assessment review, headed by Prof. Becky Francis, was asked by the government to examine primary, secondary, and the 16-19 phases of state education in England. It has just published its 197-page report. It will require changes to the art and design teachers’ curriculum, programme of study and planning. AI can help teachers with this, taking much of the tedium and time out of the process by quickly generating a variety of personalised models of practice to help teachers make informed choices. The review states that:

“It is vital that schools and colleges are able to innovate and respond to local needs, and that teachers have the flexibility to extend the curriculum and draw out its relevance for the young people in their classrooms. As such, we have been mindful both to ensure the national curriculum comprises an aspirational entitlement for all and that there is adequate space for schools and colleges to go beyond it.”  

The report makes it clear that schools and teachers will be encouraged to adapt any generic programme of study developed by experts to their own particular local circumstances. Of course, giving teachers the ‘flexibility’ is not the same as giving them the ‘capacity’. But this website can help (click here)  AI can help.

The Guardian published a quick review of the 10 major recommendations (below). It is interesting to speculate how, when and where the role of AI in art education, which is explored on this website, might become relevant in this process of change. The text in red below is the speculation. About 50% of these recommendations seem to suggest that art and design teachers could turn to AI rather than generic templates to implement their new curriculum.

1. 1. 1. Shorten GCSEs
         The length of GCSE exams should be shrunk by 10%, which could shave about three hours off for each pupil. The review found evidence that England is an international outlier in the “excessive” length and number of exams taken by its 16-year-olds, and argues that exams could be shortened without any loss of rigour. In art, unlike most other subjects, most of the work produced by students is potentially offered as evidence for assessment. This leaves students with very little space free of assessment objectives. A shortened GCSE examination suggests the relationship between the curriculum and external assessment will need to be re-conceptualised. AI can model new options and ideas for teachers to consider.

      2. Slim down GCSE content
         Individual GCSE subject content should be slimmed down, particularly in history and sciences, to give pupils more time for non-assessed but mandatory subjects such as PE, citizenship and relationships, sex and health education. The art curriculum is not really prescribed, and is essentially shaped by the vague assessment objectives of the examination syllabus. This confirms the classic  dilemma to, “make the assessable important rather than the important assessable” . AI can model new options, ideas and choices for teachers.
         
         
      3. Scrap the English baccalaureate suite
         The English Baccalaureate suite of GCSE subjects, introduced by Michael Gove, was designed to steer pupils towards eight core academic subjects but excluded arts and vocational subjects. This suite should be scrapped. Arts and creative educators have long opposed the measure. The reduction in the number of students studying art has had the effect of narrowing the curriculum and emphasising the focus on examination success, as well as the adoption of formulaic pedagogies. The abolition of the English baccalaureate suite and the expansion of the numbers of students studying ‘the arts’ has the potential to unlock the stranglehold of assessment bodies on the curriculum, revising liberating teachers to reflect on the values of art and design education. AI can support this debate and evolution by easily generating a variety of curriculum models to support art teachers’ thinking and choices.

      4. More focus on social diversity
         Stronger representation should be made of “the diversity that makes up our modern society, allowing more children to see themselves in the curriculum”. This should require art teachers to reflect on their curriculum content. AI can easily model curriculum content and plans which relate directly to particular student populations (which are either ethnically diverse or lacking in diversity).

      5. Expand RE
         Religious education should be made part of the national curriculum at all stages, taking its content out of the hands of local advisory councils. The review heard evidence that RE provision in many schools “is not good enough and does not prepare pupils adequately for life beyond school”. ?

      6. New diagnostic test in maths and English
         A new diagnostic test in maths and English to support teachers in identifying gaps in pupils’ knowledge at year 8 should be introduced, ensuring more students are supported to progress successfully. Teaching unions, however, oppose such a move, and the government has recently proposed its own national reading tests to take place in year 8. ?

      7. Statutory citizenship classes
         The government should introduce a statutory measure to ensure that all children are taught citizenship classes at primary school, which should include elements of financial and media literacy, and climate change and sustainability. ?

      8. Review primary grammar teaching and testing
         Grammar teaching and testing in primary school should be reviewed to determine what content should be removed entirely to enable a greater focus on grammar and writing rather than grammar in theory. ?

      9. Replace computing science GCSE
         The current computing science GCSE should be replaced with a broader GCSE in computing that prepares young people “for applying digital technology and data across a wide range of fields”, including the use of artificial intelligence. This suggests a change of emphasis. Currently, guidance seems designed to protect children from AI. This suggests a more appropriate emphasis in educating children to understand and use AI. It is likely, therefore, that students following art and design courses may be able to engage with the digital tools which they will need and use in their professional lives as ‘creatives’. AI may become a legitimate tool for students – currently, awarding bodies prohibit its use, seeing it only as a vehicle for plagiarism, which subverts assessment rather than creative engagement.

          

      10. Allow students to take ‘triple science’ at GCSE
          The government should introduce an entitlement that allows any student to take “triple science” of individual biology, physics and chemistry courses at GCSE, rather than double science. ?