Doing Development Education: Junior Cycle Visual Art

‘The rationale for junior cycle Visual Art recognises the important contribution that the subject can make to ‘promote divergent thinking’ and ‘respect for the work and the opinions of others’. The rationale also acknowledges the ‘highly visual’ nature of contemporary society, and states that ‘visual literacy is an essential requirement of active citizenship’ because ‘it enhances the young person’s ability to interpret, critique and decode visual messages’ (DES, Junior Cycle Visual Art specification, pages 4-5).

Both DE and Visual Art share a central aim of empowering students to engage with the world around them and to ‘develop authentic, real-world problem solving capacities’ (DES, Junior Cycle Visual Art specification, page 6).’

– p3. Doing DE Junior Cycle Visual Art (2017)

Learning Outcomes and Assessment

This resource supports teachers to take advantage of the opportunities to create rich and layered learning experiences and outcomes for students, supporting ongoing and summative assessment tasks, with opportunities for self- and peer-assessment, as well as opportunities for teachers to give feedback to individual learners.

For the purposes of showing how DE can be embedded in junior cycle Visual Art, this resource exemplifies how DE can support teaching, learning and assessment from across the:

• three strands: Strand One: Art; Strand Two: Craft; and Strand Three: Design
• five cross-cutting, integrated strand elements: Critical and visual language; Drawing; Visual culture and appreciation; Art elements and design principles; and, Media.

The activities outlined in this resource are designed to support the achievement of Visual Art learning outcomes by engaging students with:

1. Real-world problems
2. Stimulus artwork and texts

More ‘Doing DE’ guides are available from WorldWise Global Schools, such as:

• Junior Cycle English
• Junior Cycle Digital Media Literacy
• Junior Cycle Science
• Junior Cycle Business Studies
• Junior Cycle Modern Foreign Languages
• Doing Development Education Through a Global School Partnership
• Doing Development Education for Practitioners and Organisations
• Doing Development Education as a School Network

The Doing DE resource series enables teachers to challenge their students to look at our world, and our role in making it more just, equitable and sustainable.