Raising the aspirations of GCSE photography students

Around 40 GCSE photography students from Fareham Academy visited the university to take part in photography workshops run by our PGCE Art and Design trainee teachers.

The students spent all day on campus and worked in groups that rotated, so they could each participate in four workshops using the university’s specialist photography equipment. The workshops were planned and delivered by our trainees who wanted to gain additional experience in teaching photography to GCSE students.

The workshops included:

• making photograms in the university’s darkroom
• using studio lighting to create distorted portraits
• projecting images onto portraits
• creating cyanotypes.

The day gave our trainees a fantastic opportunity to reflect on their own teaching, with the students gaining from the whole day too. The students were introduced to some photographic techniques and processes that were completely new to them and were left feeling inspired. They also left with photographs that can be part of their GCSE portfolios. It was a huge success for everyone involved.

Kirsty Griffin, photography teacher at Fareham Academy, and recent Art and Design PGCE graduate said: “The students absolutely loved the day, I did a student voice survey and all of them only had positive feedback.

“It was a wonderful opportunity, and the pupils are still buzzing from it.”

The Head of Department, who accompanied the trip said: “Some of the students were absolutely in their element. One of the students went home and used the taillight off her dad’s bike and photographed her sister. She was inspired from Wednesday to experiment with everyday objects and sent me an edit she had done, which is amazing. The day has clearly lit a spark within her and I love to see it.

“Thank you so much for allowing this trip to go ahead and for organising all the fantastic workshops for our students to experience.”

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