Design Strategy - Published Work

6D2 - How my work is communicated to a relevant audience through being published. 


As well as going to visit the banners and the school, my work has since been published across a number of social media platforms by the University. Including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the University Website. 

Design Strategy - Whitecote Banners

6D2, 6D2 - How my work is communicated to a relevant audience through being published. 

A brief I carried out last year was to design a series of banners, representing Whitecote Primary School's ASPIRE awards. My designs were chosen as the winning banners and were finally professionally printed and hung up in the entrance of their school. The other week I went to visit the school and was able to see my designs in real life. 

 Whilst I was at the school, I was able to have a meeting with the head of their work experience and discuss volunteering as an option next year, a mixture of in the classroom and design work.

 A possibility of further work also came about, to design a new school logo, as well as banners and signage for the outside of their school. The headteacher said she would discuss this further with the school council and get them to write a brief for me.

PPP3 - First Session

6B2, 6C2

In this first session we looked at our issues/problems/anxieties within our careers, in our final year and also beyond graduation.

I looked at the issue of interviews, as this is important right now, due to upcoming Postgraduate interviews for teacher training. Within the issues of interviewing theres is;

- Confidence

- Personality

- Standing out/Making an impression

- Answering Questions

- Interview Preparation

Others wrote in response to the issue;

- Personality is important and to just be yourself.

- Everyone is in the same boat

- Getting help from University

- Getting the questions to suit you

What I took away from this activity was that to help overcome the issues surrounding interviews was to;

- Be Prepared

- Be Yourself

- Practice

We chose the most pressing issue to be fear of rejection, looking at the issue from all different angles. Our solution we came up with was to create a trending hashtag, encouraging young creatives to share their stories of rejection, showing how they got to where they are now. 

Design Strategy - PGCE Courses

6A2, 6B2 - Demonstrating an understanding on the different possible courses.

Chester 

• Critical understanding of pedagogy, assessment and curriculum
• Critical knowledge, understanding and skills in primary age phases and subjects
• Critical knowledge and understanding of wider professional issues, e.g. behaviour management and inclusive practice
• Enrichment opportunities
• At least 120 days of school-based learning.
• Ofsted Outstanding

Wolverhampton

• Our Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Primary Education provides a high standard of training for those preparing to take up a teaching post in the primary school sector. The course complies with the statutory guidance from the Department for Education for Initial Teacher Training courses.
• The PGCE in Primary Education is specifically designed to ensure that those who are successful will be recommended for the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) - the professional award required by all those who wish to teach in a maintained school.
• You will focus on the teaching of the National Curriculum for primary schools and specialise in teaching Key Stages 1 and 2 whilst also having valuable opportunities to experience alternative educational settings such as Early Years, Secondary, SEND and transition.
• Successful completion of the course will lead to recommendation for the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), along with 60 credits at Master’s level.

North Shropshire Teaching Alliance

• The North Shropshire Teaching School Alliance is a successful partnership of local schools that collaborate and support each other to aim to provide an effective education for every child within the Alliance.   The core membership is currently made up of 19 schools across North Shropshire.

• Teaching Schools are centres of excellence for the training and development of the team around the child: governors, school leaders, teachers, teaching assistants, administrative staff, and maintenance staff - anybody who works in an education environment.

• The Teaching School promotes, enables and facilitates partnership working across the Alliance to support each school in meeting the needs of its own children; thus aiming to improve outcomes for every child within the Alliance.  

• St. Peter's CE Primary and Nursery School is proud to be recognised as a National Teaching School and lead school for the North Shropshire Teaching School Alliance.

Design Strategy - Teaching Routes

6A2, 6B2 - Undertaking research into the different available routes into teaching, seeing which would be best for me.

There are two routes into teaching. One is based at a university; the other is to train on the job. The first route means you get a qualification and then get a job. The second route means you get a job and then get a qualification. Independent schools are interested in academically strong undergraduates and graduates with a good degree relevant to the subject they will teach. 

If you want to work in the independent sector you can apply for a teaching job without teaching qualifications and, having got the job, then get trained in your school. Most graduate trainees want to gain a teaching qualification that has currency across sectors and countries. Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) gained while working in the independent or state maintained sector is transferable between sectors. 

There are a number of recognised routes to gain Qualified Teacher Status, amongst them the most common are:

• School Direct training on the job
• higher education institution based or distance learning courses
• Most Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) will also give QTS but not all, so do check
• QTS allows you to teach in schools across the sectors. If you want to do this and take a PGCE course, the course must also give you QTS.

Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) Year

Once you have gained Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), you become a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT). You will continue your training as an NQT for a year. Most schools in the independent sector and all schools in the state sector expect you to pass this NQT Induction year to be a fully qualified teacher.

PPP: End of Module Evaluation

First of all, looking at the Creative Report, this was an extremley useful brief and exercise to carry out as I learnt a lot from it. It allowed me to explore and gain a further insight into both the creative  industry and the education system, allowing me to bring my two interests together. I have also gained more contacts and got better at emailing and networking through this. As well as this I have also managed to get work experience as a result of contacting the interviewees, in both a primary school and secondary school. Parts of the creative report, as well as it being successful, there were also areas which were unsuccessful such as not receiving responses or people being too busy, however this was all a learning curve and allowed me to practice my communication skills. 

Secondly, looking at the pitch, the presentation of it, working as a team and the actual designing The pitch and presentation itself was professional and successful in terms of how we shared our ideas, however the success of the design idea itself didn’t reach it’s potential and I feel with more time we could have developed it further. It was also interesting to take on such an open and large brief, which impacted us and our fellow peers and students. It was exciting to have no boundaries, however this did make it hard as there was infinite possibilities and it was difficult to hone in on the most important aspects. Pitching and presenting wise, it definitely was an experience to reflect on as it was the first chance we had been given to pitch. It was great to have an opportunity to have an insight into what being a part of a studio and creative team and also see what it could be like to pitch to real clients and companies. It definitely increased my confidence with presenting to large numbers of people and I feel every time I do it, I get better and it gets easier.  Overall it was a great exercise to learn from, as it was our first time and I’m excited to practice and get more confident at sharing and pitching ideas, whilst also  being better at thinking bigger with no limitations. 

The PPP presentation, i feel went well and again allowed me to practice and develop my presenting skills and confidence in talking about myself and my ideas. It also allowed me to look at the things I have achieved this year, some things which I had forgotten about. Some of the main things being, working with young creatives, entering and winning competitions and communicating and networking with people. 

In terms of my PPP blog, I have drawn upon contemporary graphic design which has inspired and interested me throughout the year. I have also included talks which have inspired me and the people who carried those out. It also shows the process of designing the pitch, evaluating on the year and other modules, how to improve and evidence of networking and what I’ve gained from this module as a whole.

In conclusion, this year I have really developed my communication, networking and presenting skills. I also feel like I have thought a lot more about my rams for the future and become a lot more open minded about the possibilities. Which has allowed me to take interest in a range of subjects, such as education, teaching, marketing and designing, which this module has helped me to gain experience in, contacting people and as a result I have experience for over the Summer in a range of settings and I am excited for next year and what the future has to bring. 

Way-Finding: Final Pitch and Evaluation