A Level Art and Design: Textiles

Students will study this as an A level course, however, in certain cases an AS Level may be a more appropriate route.

Exam Board: AQA

We follow the same exam board as Fine Art, which is AQA, however this course follows the Textiles pathway. Click here to see the AQA specification.

A Level Textile Design

Component 1: Portfolio

No time limit

Portfolio: 96 marks

Weighting: 60% of total A marks

In this unit, students will demonstrate and understanding of skills and techniques used in Textile design. They will explore a range of techniques and materials as well as looking at the work of artists. They will produce practical and critical/contextual work in one or more areas of study to reach a final outcome.

Areas of study:

Students are required to work in one or more areas of fine art:

Fashion design
Fashion textiles
Costume design
Digital textiles
Printed and/or dyed fabrics and materials
Domestic textiles
Wallpaper
Interior design
Constructed Textiles
Art textiles
Installed textiles

Component 1: Personal Investigation

This is a practical investigation supported by written material.

Students should conduct a practical investigation into an idea, concept or theme, supported by written material. The focus of the investigation must be identified by the student and lead to a finished outcome.

The investigation should be a coherent, in-depth study that demonstrates the student’s ability to construct and develop a sustained line of reasoning from an initial starting point to a final realisation. The investigation must show clear development from initial intentions to the final outcome or outcomes.

It must include evidence of the student’s ability to research and develop ideas and relate their work in meaningful ways to relevant critical/contextual materials. The investigation must be informed by an aspect of contemporary or past practice of artists, photographers, designers or craftspeople.

The written material must confirm understanding of creative decisions, providing evidence of all four assessment objectives by:

clarifying the focus of the investigation
demonstrating critical understanding of contextual and other sources
substantiating decisions leading to the development and refinement of ideas
recording ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions by reflecting critically on practical work
making meaningful connections between, visual, written and other elements.

The written material must:

be a coherent and logically structured extended response of between 1000 and 3000 words of continuous prose.
include specialist vocabulary appropriate to the subject matter
include a bibliography that, identifies contextual references from sources such as: books, journals, websites, through studies of others’ work made during a residency, or on a site, museum or gallery visit
be legible with accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar so that meaning is clear.

Students can present the written material as a single passage of continuous prose or as a series of shorter discrete, but linked, passages of continuous prose incorporated within the practical work.

Component 2: Externally set assignment

Students will be given a choice of eight questions to be used as starting points. Students are required to select one. Students will be provided with exam papers on 1 February, or as soon as possible after that date.

Preparatory period – from 1 February

Following receipt of the paper students should consider the starting points and select one. Preparatory work should be presented in any suitable format, such as mounted sheets, design sheets, sketchbooks, workbooks, journals, models and maquettes.

Supervised time – 15 hours Following the preparatory period, students must complete 15 hours of unaided, supervised time.

The first three hours of the supervised time must be consecutive. In the 15 hours students must produce a finished outcome or a series of related finished outcomes, informed by their preparatory work.

Students must stop work on their preparatory work as soon as the first period of supervised time starts. Students may refer to their preparatory work in the supervised time, but it must not be added to or amended.

Where can this course take me?

What can I do with a textile design degree? | Prospects.ac.uk

Creative careers: What can you do with a Textile Design degree?

Careers in Textiles | First Careers