The Visual Arts Planning & Progress Form (6/VAPPF)

My school starts back in three weeks – 24^th August – so thoughts are starting to turn towards the courses we teach and the students we will be working with.

Whether you are about to start IBDP visual arts, or are about to enter the 2^nd year, you will need to complete the visual arts planning & progress form.

This is a relatively new (but mandatory) DP visual arts form – but hopefully your teacher will be aware of it.

If he/she is not, perhaps you could suggest they check with the DP Coordinator for information, or have a look on the Online Curriculum Centre – on the main page under the “Assessment” header – where the pdf file can be downloaded.

What does it involve?

Your teacher will take you through the process, but, in brief,

• The form has a section for each assessment component (comparative study, process portfolio and exhibition).
• You may decide to discuss all three components during the same meeting or to have dedicated meetings for each component.
• The completed form must be submitted to the IB with the internal assessment material.

I must admit, the timing of the release of the form is not perfect, since for many of us (teachers and students) the first year is already over, so the “first interaction” will occur well after the halfway point of the course.

Anyway, the instructions say:

First interaction

Discuss your artistic interests and what artists and art-making forms you are planning to focus on (progress and plans, etc)

Second interaction

Discuss how you have progressed in your research, experimentations and/or practical work, and how your ideas, skills, processes and techniques have been reviewed and refined (including progress and academic honesty issues)

Third interaction

Discuss your draft work and receive feedback (including the comparative study and the curatorial rationale drafts; for the process portfolio check that the correct selection of art-making forms is included and sources are acknowledged)

“You are also encouraged to review with your teacher the quality of the digital documentation, the way your work is presented and whether all assessment requirements are being met”.

While the form does have space for three interactions for each component, it is not necessary that you meet with your teacher specifically on nine separate occasions (although you could!?); it is perfectly acceptable for you and your teacher to meet in three meetings, covering your progress in each of the assessment components.

• There is also a section for your teacher to write his/her comment for each component (i.e. three comments).
• The teacher is not allowed to edit your work.
• If you are taking the full IB Diploma you will encounter the Planning and Progress Form in other subject areas.

***6/VAPPF is a pdf file that includes “fillable form fields” and you should be able to print the completed form and save it to your device or Acrobat.com, although in order to do this you (and/or the school) will probably need to have installed a recent version of Adobe Acrobat rather than using the free version.

For the first interaction, I suggest you think about these areas

• My artistic interests include…
• I am inspired by these artists:
• In terms of art-making forms, I enjoy…
• Progress and plans:
  • so far I have…
  • I have plans to…

Good luck!

IMAGE (diagram for illustration purposes only: not related to the DP planning and progress form)