The Big Landscape is a tool to help art educators plan, implement and review a school and learner-centred art, craft and design curriculum. It does not map out everything that must be included – this would be too vast and only lead to mile-wide and inch-deep learning. Instead, the Big Landscape brings together the rich possibilities and potential of art, craft and design education.
Ofsted say: ‘subject leaders and curriculum planners need to have some sort of idea of what might be ‘cumulatively sufficient’ or ‘collectively enough’ content for the curriculum to be high quality.
‘They will need to have a rationale for which areas of making they teach and revisit over time, and which areas they will not teach. This prevents the art curriculum from collapsing into a superficial tour of different areas of making.’ Ofsted
Ofsted also indicate that time is needed for a high-quality art and design education, and that teachers will need:
‘...enough professional development opportunities to acquire a wide range of knowledge about art education that will inform ongoing curriculum development. They also have opportunities to improve their pedagogical content knowledge about ways of making and teaching art and design.
‘A high-quality curriculum in art, craft and design, together with teachers who have sufficient expertise to teach it well, enables pupils to develop sophisticated knowledge about subject content, as well as love of a subject that is genuinely fascinating and a source of inspiration.’
We applaud this and believe the Big Landscape will help guide and signpost the rationale for a relevant and engaging art and design curriculum – for your learners and for your community.
