How does the curriculum work?
The BFA program is a four-year sequence of studio art, art history, and liberal arts general education courses. Approximately two-thirds of the curriculum consists of studio-based courses and the remaining third are academic courses. All 1st-year students begin their studies in the Core Studio Program. For more information about the Core Studio 1st Year Program, contact Core@ringling.edu.
The creative learning curriculum is totally cross-curricular. Children study a different work of art every half term and national curriculum objectives are embedded. For example, Year 6 studied Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” in the summer term. The planning was really detailed, relating the work to the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews in history classes, the issue of prejudice in citizenship studies, Judaism in RE, and so on. Creativity has to have rigour. It’s not just about having a nice time. We all remember the days of topic work, when there was no real common entitlement for children. The introduction of the national curriculum secured this. But it also forced teachers to focus on the core subjects to the detriment of everything else that is important in education. How did staff take to the changes in what was generally acknowledged to be a very successful school? Are there any lessons you could pass on about handling change? Change is always a challenge and often a huge risk. That is
The curriculum contains six subject groups (language, second language, experimental science, the arts, mathematics and computer science, individuals and societies, see table below) together with a core consisting of three separate parts: • An extended essay – up to 4,000 words based on a topic of personal interest • Theory of Knowledge – A philosophical approach to understanding the nature of knowledge • Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) – A programme of Arts, sports and community service
