EXAMINATION ED 2135 Question 4.

EXAMINATION ED 2135
Question 4.
The Board of Studies provides essential educational resources for Australian teachers and students. Locating this website is easy, simply type BOS into any search engine. Navigating the website is also very simple. In the top head bar of the home page there is a link to the website index. Here every main page on the website is listed. There is also a search button with a link to a customer liaison unit on this page, if what you are looking for does not appear. Probably the simplest and most commonly used option is to go to the options bar on the left hand side of the home page and scroll down to view the main pages listed. All N.S.W Syllabuses are available, and as these are absolutely essential to your teaching area a teacher should be thoroughly familiar with their applicable documents.
The NSW Syllabus document have been developed within the parameters set by the Board of Studies NSW in its K–10 Curriculum Framework. This framework ensures that K–10 syllabuses and curriculum requirements are designed to provide optimal educational opportunities. These documents are essential for programming. In each syllabus document there is extensive advice for teachers. Information on teaching of children with special needs, including a teacher’s legal obligations as well as suggestions for reporting and assessment in cases where the student may be disadvantaged by traditional standards is to be found. The Rationale of each KLA as well as the Aim of the syllabus is overviewed, as are the Objectives and Outcomes. Course Content is stipulated as is Life Skills Outcomes and Content. Each stage within each area of study is given a separate outcome overview, such that the teacher has a picture of the Continuum of Learning in Visual Arts K–10. Cross-curriculum content is outlined, including the integration of ICT into the Visual Arts course; Aboriginal and Indigenous content and Civics and Citizenship exploration that is required to be undertaken.
In the area of Visual Arts weighting is specified in regards to art making and art theory. Mandatory Visual Arts diary processes are explained. Inclusively, syllabuses also contain invaluable information on Assessment and Reporting.
A Visual Arts support document is provided titled Advice on Assessment and Reporting. This is an invaluable document as it contains sample units of work including lesson content. Sample assessment and reporting are also featured, including choice of assessment strategies.
The sample units of work identify the outcomes that will be addressed in the unit, show how to decide on the focus of the unit of work, decide on the evidence of learning that will be required, how students will demonstrate learning in relation to the outcomes and how this evidence will be gathered and recorded. They also select the relevant syllabus content for the identified outcomes relating to the knowledge, understanding and skills that students will develop as well as plan the learning experiences and instruction, and identify the assessment for learning strategies that will provide the evidence of learning, checking that:a range of assessment strategies is used, meaningful feedback in a variety of forms can be given to students and opportunities are provided to reflect on student progress and modify future learning experiences accordingly.

When planning a lesson in the area of Visual Art 7-10, once thoroughly familiar with the syllabus and the support documents, the next place I would visit is The Assessment Resource Centre, an excellent support resource for teachers to develop their professional practice in relation to assessment and reporting of student achievement from Years K to 12. Here work samples are provided to assist teachers to consistently report student achievement against standards when using grades A to E or equivalent. Performance descriptors are explained and several examples are given for each grade. Teachers are also able to view a range of assessment activities for Visual Arts. This can be really helpful and inspiring when preparing a series of lessons. It helps you to determine the calibre of expectations required for each stage, as well as providing a window into what other people are doing in the world of art making- so fundamental to today’s art making world of continuous connectivity.
In the ‘What’s new’ link official announcements are posted. This page has the BOS official notice stamp and is also able to be found under the Board Bulletin link on he left hand side of the home page. This is a must stop page for all teachers to keep abreast of changes, amendments or developments in their subject area as well as in general. There is an option at the bottom of the page to receive an email every time a news item is published.
In summary I would have to say that the BOS website is an extensive resource that provides essential information regarding programming and direction for lesson content. The more familiar you become with this site, the easier it is to navigate and extract really useful information.

Resources:
Board of Studies Website