GCSE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY: TEXTILES TECHNOLOGY

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1 GCSE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY: TEXTILES TECHNOLOGY Report on the Examination 4570 JUNE 2015 Version: 1.0

2 Further copies of this Report are available from aqa.org.uk Copyright 2015 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre.

3 INTRODUCTION Many students have shown their flair and creativity in the development of original textile products. Once again much of the work was stunning and on occasions resembled the qualities we see at Advanced level. CHOICE OF CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT TASKS A small number of centres failed to use the new tasks or had contextualised them inappropriately. Teachers are reminded there is a high level of control in relation to Task setting and any contextualisation must first be approved by AQA, through the Coursework Adviser. The majority of centres offered students a choice of task and this allowed all abilities with different interests to find something appealing. The inclusion of the Hobbies task appealed to many boys. Some centres may benefit from guiding lower ability students towards tasks and outcomes that allow them to achieve more positive results sometimes garments in particular are incomplete or of poor quality because the construction is too challenging. Students struggled with the Shabby Chic, Vintage and the 1960 s task to design and make a product that was original. Many copied existing designs. ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVE 1 Investigating the design context Mature, confident students will state from the very start the product they will be designing and making. Research is almost always most effective when the product/garment is chosen from the outset because it is fully focussed and relevant. Task analysis is not always understood. When spider diagrams are used the students often use pre-set headings which sometimes means that they fail to identify key considerations of their chosen task and the whole thing is just a general assortment of words with no focus and importantly no real understanding shown. The most popular research activities are mood boards, shop profiles, client profiles, existing product comparative shops, disassembly tasks and some research focused on the work of a designer, an era, or a stage production. Questionnaires still feature as part of research. Students would be better served if they carried out a survey once they had presented some ideas. Questionnaires as part of the initial research are limited, poorly constructed and contrived e.g. asking questions about things that they have already made decisions about is a common feature and the results are very rarely used to guide designing. 3of 8

4 In some cases the disassembly tasks were unrelated to the product being designed and students would have benefitted from carrying out this research activity as part of their development work when they had made decisions about the product. Almost all completed a mood board. For future guidance patterns, colours, shapes and textures should be provided in the designing as some only presented a sheet of existing designs. Research analysis varies in quality - it is sometimes detailed but often students fail to clearly state what they have found out and how they will use it statements are often general in nature or sometimes are a description of what has been done. When this is the case, design specifications lack the essential focus. However the higher level thinking student will often evaluate throughout each stage of their research and the final analysis draws together their findings. Design specifications were presented by most however a product should be specified. There should be a focus on one specified product that was determined through the research carried out. Quite often the specification is a list of general statements which do not reflect research findings. An increasing number of students use set headings for the specification provided by the teacher. When this occurs they are often restricted and produce statements which are inappropriate to their design or confused because they struggle to relate the heading to their design choice. Headings are fine as a starting point or for guidance but students need to add to or remove them to make the criteria relevant to their design. Occasionally some of the research carried out would be better suited to Assessment Objective 2: Development e.g. fabric research and decorative techniques. Sometimes when the students start designing they realise their initial research is not going to be useful and they carry out further research as part of the development work. They need to explain fully their reasons and credit will be given. If students do not use the research in their designing they will not be in the top band of marks for AO1. 4of 8

5 ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVE 2 Development of design proposals (including modelling) This assessment objective is worth 32 marks so it is important that sufficient evidence is presented by students. Some students do not present their work logically in this section which tends to imply a lack of understanding of the process in some instances there was little evaluation or analysis throughout development and it was difficult to follow the students thinking. Many appeared to be isolated activities following a teachers plan with little or no analysis. Following the presentation of design ideas students need to make it clear which one or ones they intend to develop. Some produced excellent creative design ideas but failed to develop them and went for safe options using a commercial pattern. Students generally did not show sufficient knowledge and understanding of the working properties of textile fibres and fabrics. Students use whatever they have available to them and the most common is calico, polyester satin or cotton polyester. Fabric and component choice was often given little attention some are still carrying out stain and wash tests on fabrics for which they already know the outcome. Ideas should flow and there should be no set number or style of presentation particularly for the most able that should be showing individuality and creative flair. Most designs were annotated but the ideas not always well evaluated. Most students present a development plan, the most able seem to be encouraged to work independently and put together an individual, meaningful plan. The best work shows consideration of researching and exploring the use of a range of suitable components. Where centres allowed for experimentation when working with fabrics, threads, colour, this lead to exciting outcomes. Embellishment techniques should be challenging and show skill at GCSE level. When presenting a range of decorative samples in the folders, evidence of using them should be included in the final outcome. Evaluation of sampling varied with some students able to fully justify their decisions and others describing what they did without any evaluative comment. When construction sampling is successfully used it is done using the chosen fabric, is relevant to the design and allows genuine decisions to be made. Construction sampling should be used on the chosen fabric and be appropriate to the design. The evidence for the development of shape and style could be improved and students should clearly show how their paper pattern has been made or adapted. Most produced a toile or mock up and some used this as an opportunity to further their design thinking. More often it is used to test the manufacture and fit, or to run through the use of the commercial pattern. 5of 8

6 Many provided evidence of modelling using paper, plastic or card to help with designing. Industrial Manufacture and Health and Safety issues were broadly covered. The more able students presented relevant information and applied it throughout the process. Some discussed sustainability and recycling. In general more centres this year showed a clear understanding of issues influencing design development. It is important that a developed final idea is presented whether it forms part of the manufacturing specification or a presentation board it needs to be shown clearly. ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVE 3 Making Making appeared to be much better this year with more complex products being fairly assessed. Excellent photographs from most centres, with good teacher annotation explaining skills and techniques help to support the marks being asked. Some incomplete outcomes were assessed as if completed. Outcomes were usually very attractive and colourful and many were highly original products. Where too much credit had been given in this area it was usually because the complexity and demand was lacking; basic repetitive skills, easy to handle fabrics, a lack of complex construction. It was encouraging to see some new materials and new technologies, particularly the laser cutter being used effectively. A few centres encouraged students to use electronic components, or smart materials in their products or during development. Most students included detailed production plans / making diaries which included excellent photographs / manufacturing specifications. The very able were including details of a higher level of understanding e.g. tolerance levels and quality control. Some centres provided excellent photographs of the outcomes including close up details. This evidence was best when it showed right side and wrong side of product. Fashion products were shown to their advantage through several action shots, including cat walk events. However some teachers are awarding the highest marks for work that looked acceptable on a photograph but when closely examined lacked accuracy and finish. Many students produced highly successful and original items. Practical developments were recorded particularly effectively through photographs and there was some evidence of very high level making and finishing skills. 6of 8

7 ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVE 4 Testing and evaluation Many students are using a wider variety of evaluation techniques and there is increasing evidence of evaluation of the developing designs. Centres were mostly accurate in their assessments of this objective and usually recognised where there was a lack of rigour in the testing of the outcome or detailed evaluative comments. Many final evaluations were often good and nearly always referred back to the assessment criteria. However some centres often gave full marks and disregarded the first bullet point relating to detailed testing and evaluation throughout the designing and making process. One of the main issues highlighted again this year was the limited testing of the final product and consideration of improvements and modifications for commercial production. Some students failed to include the product modifications recommended for commercial production and yet were awarded full marks. Students sometimes referred to making the outcome again in school rather than a commercially produced product. Most students addressed their work objectively, compared against the market, consulted others, tested the product against the specification and suggest logical, achievable modifications to their product. Some students placed too much reliance on friends or family comments on their product and this is where weakness crept into the evaluation. Some evaluations were very detailed with photographic evidence of user trials and detailed comparisons to relevant commercial products. There was evidence of a range of good ongoing and summative evaluations using client feedback effectively to make decisions about the development of designs. Many used tables to present results of testing against specifications and these provided a framework for the final summative evaluations, but these often just amount to a simple positive YES or tick with little evidence of how this was evaluated. This should not be the only method of presenting the information. Higher ability students should be producing extended pieces of writing. 7of 8

8 ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVE 5 Communication Some folders flow really well with every page leading you logically through the design process. All aspects are communicated well. This year the majority of folders were focused and relevant to the set task. Work was generally presented in a coherent manner and with a good use of technical language. Most presentation methods were successful through the use of cameras, good diagrams, well written extended writing and careful and appropriate presentation. Some awarded marks on the basis of spelling and the decoration of design sheets. There is also a failure to recognise the lack of complexity in some folders when awarding high marks for undemanding work. Some poor use of space and time was evident in a number of folders this year, particularly on design pages, and the inclusion of some irrelevant content e.g. general notes on issues or production methods meant that time was wasted at the expense of more relevant coverage. This also included evidence of over decoration of pages with double mounting, coloured lace, motif/logos, braid, ribbon, buttons and sequins. Students should be advised not to include fold down flaps of information sometimes enclosed within an A3 plastic pocket as it is very time consuming for the moderator to access the content. Mark Ranges and Award of Grades Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics page of the AQA Website. Converting Marks into UMS marks Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below. UMS conversion calculator 8of 8