DEGREE RESULTS TOMORROW!

At last, three years in the waiting, the results are in tomorrow.  I want to blog before I get them so that my comments are objective. My overall view of the course is that:

• I have never quite known what is going on because things change all the time. The Professional Practice module last year involved work experience whereas this year it was about research into your chosen field of practice. Just as I got to grips with sketchbooks for assessment, this year they have been replaced with a blog or documented report. It would have been useful to have an interim tutorial to check that the blog is as they want it.
• The visiting practitioners have been interesting in that they present the work they have produced and offer tutorials to students whose practice is similar to their own.
• Considering the student body is so small, I always get the impression they don't know who we are. I had an email from the CHC tutor, KL, chastising me for not attending her tutorial and making sure that my absence was noted in my file.  I informed her that I was actually there and had a feedback sheet to prove it. She apologise stating she had confused mw with a Worcester college student. RC wrote a completely different surname on my tutorial feedback sheet.  For the entire year she has been getting Merlene confused with Myrtle. On another occasion gave me ten days extension to a hand-in deadline, as set out in my Disability Statement, only to change it to five days because of the length of the report. When I explained that my Disability Support worker was only due back from holiday after the five day deadline had passed, she compromised on seven days saying, 'it will look like I don't know what I'm doing'.  On the subject of Disability, over the two years of the Foundation Course and the three year full-time BA course, I have only asked for an extension to the essay deadline on two occasions.  Both because of the absence of my Disability Support worker.  My CHC essay was written but she types it for me. I went to the Course Director, three weeks before the deadline, to tell him I would need an extension and who did I need to consult, to which he responded 'So you're going to play the Disability card?' which I thought was a bit  insensitive. I told him that sometimes I thought the tutors forgot that I had significant disabilities. 'That's good isn't it?  You wouldn't want to be treated any differently to the others would you?' he asked.  'Well actually', I thought, ' I do need reasonable adjustments so that I am the same as everyone else.
• At the beginning of the year we received a notification of Etiquette.  It was long overdue. I totally agree that students should arrive in time, especially when attending visiting practitioner talks. However, shouldn't this etiquette apply to the staff as well?  We had a technician workshop. He arrived half an hour late. When we were all convened to meet in the studios to discuss the installation of our work, one of us had to go to the tutor office after fifteen minutes of waiting to find the tutors chatting. No doubt it was important. We were always kept waiting in the past but we thought this Etiquette policy would improve things. It hasn't.
• There is a culture of arrogance and disdain within the leadership towards the student body. They operate on the principle that the stick is far more effective than the carrot.  I have never seen so many grown people come out of tutorials crying.  We all dislike criticism of our work but appreciate constructive critisicm as this moves us forward. Our work is often met with derision or the tutors walking away in disgust. This is hardly encouraging. This would be excusable if it was a one-off but it is the norm. I have commented to Sean about this because my concern is not for the mature students, who have been in a professional field and are used to tough treatment in the workplace. Some of the younger students are destroyed by the negative comments they receive. It has led to a lot of dropouts.  I had been trying to put my finger on why there was such a low morale on the course. We have lovely studios to work in and the students get along very well despite the age range. One comment made by a tutor during a group crit underlined the attitude of some members of the Department. This tutor, who shall remain nameless, said, 'I have no personal investment in any of you lot'. I thought, 'how can you be in this job with that attitude?'  This is the same tutor who when I told her I had been nominated to attend the Public Art Strategy at Twycross zoo in collaboration with Commissions East commented, 'Don't expect anything to come of it.'  Thank you for your support!.  It then dawned on me that the Department is all about their reflected glory.  You can have the best facilities going but if the interests of the students are not uppermost, the only way is down.
• Another concern has been the personal relationship between two of the tutors. This should not be a problem but some students have felt that if you have a problem with one tutor, you cannot complain to the Course Director. This is further complicated by the fact that they are also internal examiners. I don't think that this would be a problem as there are measures in place that ensure fairness, but it still creates tension amongst the students.