Bray, OP

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ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 2008 25“I have felt a constant determination to get it right –whatever ‘it’ might be – the first time, because it’snot only my first but probably also my last time too.”(Stacey Grahame, Contemporary PerformancePractices student, 2008)This paper looks at the role of the top-up degree asa first- and last-year student experience. In thelight of the increasing number of foundationdegrees (FdAs) offered as higher educationprovision nationally, many students have a desire toprogress onto top-up degrees. This paper looksspecifically at the BA Honours ContemporaryPerformance Practices (CPP) programme offered atLeeds Met as an example of innovative design thataddresses the numerous issues surrounding a‘one-year-only’ programme.In 2006 (the latest statistics that are available fromUCAS), 14,673 prospective students were acceptedonto FdAs in the UK, accounting for almost 4% ofthe total acceptances onto degree, HND and FdAcourses. Many of these courses are established byuniversities but many others are HE coursesembedded within further education (FE) institutionsthat have particular relationships with specificuniversities. For example, at Leeds Met we haverelationships with Park Lane College, Leeds andHarrogate College, who run FdAs in Theatre Studiesand Contemporary Performance respectively. Theirstudents have a ‘right of entry’ to the CPPprogramme provided they successfully completetheir FdAs. CPP also attracts students from anumber of other institutions, including WakefieldCollege and Newcastle College. An acknowledgmentof the fact that the students will be arriving on CPPwith a diverse set of experiences is key to thesuccessful running of the programme. In many ways,students new to the programme have to be acombination of first- and last-year students; arrivingto an institutional expectation that although new,they will perform at Level 3 standard.As is the case with most arts-based academicprovision, CPP has to reflect current practices inthe field. It is essential that there is a simultaneousacknowledgement of both the canon ofperformance practice and the current culturalclimate in which the programme situates itself. Inthe case of CPP, all staff teaching on theprogramme are established current artists and/orperformance-makers in the field, practising anethos that promotes a notion of praxis (theory-informed practice) combining and balancingintelligent, theoretical ideas and pragmatic, ‘real-world’ experiences of making a performance. CPPstudents come to the course with varying degreesof both professional and academic experience andappreciate the general ethos of the course as bothreflective of their individuality and ambition, butalso their desire and need to contexualisetheoretical ideas through ‘real-world’ practice.A closer look at the design of the curriculumdemonstrates how it is sympathetic to the ‘one andonly year’ student and complementary to the ethosof Performing Arts at Leeds Met. The first modulethat the students encounter is called ‘ThePerformance Project: Mapping the Terrain’, aheavily practical, performance-based module thatis delivered in a ‘short fat’ burst of five weeks. Asthe title suggests, the module is about establishinga working vocabulary, a similar language, which iscrucial in the context of the diverse nature of thestudents. This intensive module places studentsimmediately into a staff-led ‘making’ space, andwithin the first four days the students havepresented their first piece of performance work.The module is not only reflective of the ‘real-world’demands placed on performance-makers but alsoexposes the students straight away to the demandsof a top-up degree – covering a lot of ground in alimited time. The intensity of the module helpsstudents to understand the context of the work withwhich they will be engaging during the programmeand this exposure very quickly demonstrates the‘tone’ of the course. Assessment models built intothe programme have been designed to beaccessible to a diverse range of students. Forexample, on the module ‘Performance Works’ thestudents are assessed through the presentation of a‘Statement in Action’.First- and last-year experience: assessment, learning and teaching on a top-up degreeOliver Bray36257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 25ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 200826Statement in Action (50%)The production of an ‘active’ response to one ormore pre-determined statements selected by thestudent at the start of the module. The Statement inAction is an individual creative/performativearticulation of the questions and possibilitiesimplicit in the chosen statement, within the contextof an enquiry into the work of the artists examinedduring the course of study.(Book of Modules, 2007)This assessment model gives the students creativefreedom in their presentation of the results of theiracademic enquiry. Students are given theopportunity to combine areas of learning andinterest. For example, in preparation for thisassessment, students interested in provocativeperformance work might engage in the followingactivities:• investigation into a particularly provocativeperformance they have witnessed live• locating why they see the work as provocative(including placing it in the context of their ownexperience and other artists/thinkers/theoriststhey have studied on the module)• creating a performative/creative response thatreflects their position on the work and frames theimplications of that position. This model reinforces the course’s ethos ofproducing ‘thinking artists’ and embeds reflectivelearning into the assessment. It is cruciallyimportant that the ‘first and only year’ experienceinculcates reflection into assessment in this way,since we cannot wait until the end of the year toreflect.“[T]hey are required to develop as artists, asreflective practitioners, and apply those practicalskills acquired previously whilst developing duringthe year.”(External Examiner’s Report, 2007) Students studying CPP are expected to see a lot ofcontemporary performance work during their yearon the course. The module ‘Performance Works’runs alongside the programme of work shown atthe Leeds Met Gallery & Studio Theatre. Studentswatch the entire Autumn season of work (up to tenperformances), which is a deliberate strategy tosaturate the new students in the work in which theyare expected to develop expertise over the comingyear. Students studying on CPP very quickly becomeabsorbed into the ‘community of practice’ (Lave &Wenger, 1999) of studying contemporaryperformance at Leeds Met. In crude terms, we aimto engage students in three ways to frame theirintensive learning in this area; seeing a lot ofperformance, making a lot of performance andtalking a lot about performance.“[A]s students, the intensity of the one year top-updefinitely encouraged us to step-up in terms ofcommitment and professionalism.”(Nathan Maguire, CPP student, 2008)CPP has been described by some students asfeeling like a ‘crash course’. Starting a top-up year,compared with a conventional undergraduatedegree, will inevitably involve a different kind oftransition from Level 2 to Level 3. Indeed, anecdotalevidence suggests that students feel that they areat the bottom of a very steep learning curve. It is thejob of the staff delivering the programme to makesure that students are acclimatised, ready and firedup for the journey ahead of them.“There is something unique about theundergraduate careers of the students on thisprogramme and this requires a particular kind ofapproach both at academic and pastoral levels.”(External Examiner’s Report, 2007) Students may be more likely on the Level 3 top-upto experience anxieties more usually associatedwith the first-year experience of undergraduatestudents: worries about their abilities, coming toterms with their workload, managing timeefficiently and even missing their home and family(many students studying FdAs do so while still withtheir families; for many of our students, studyingCPP represents their first venture into living awayfrom home). This means that the right level ofpastoral care from the teaching team needs to bebalanced with the academic delivery. The teachingteam have to ‘front’ the programme appropriately,36257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 26ALT JOURNAL NUMBER 4: SUMMER 2008 27finding means to enthuse and motivate anxiousstudents while adopting an attitude of being ‘care-full’. By its nature, teaching in arts practice placesresponsibility on students to make subjectivedecisions and judgements about the content of theirresearch. Ordinarily it is work led by the studentthat is prioritised in the third year of anundergraduate degree in arts practice, the result oftwo years of coming to terms with the subject area.During a top-up year, students may have tosimultaneously discover a grounding in the area ofpractice while negotiating their own learning. Thepersonal nature of this kind of (self-)educationmeans that it is critical that staff are careful with,but also care about, the students’ first- and last-year experience.“Coming to Leeds Met was the best decision I have made because it has forced me to be more independent and confident.”(Rebecca Bradley, CPP student, 2008)References Leeds Metropolitan University (2007) Book ofModules 2007: BA (Hons) Contemporary PerformancePractices. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1999) Learning and Pedagogyin Communities of Practice. In: Leach, J. & Moon, B.(eds.) Learners & Pedagogy. London: Paul ChapmanPublishing & The Open University.UCAS (2006) Statistics: Foundation degrees 2006.Available at:http://www.ucas.ac.uk/website/statistical_services/statsonline/26732/foundation/2006_tables#3[Accessed May 2008]Oliver BraySenior Lecturer in Performance PracticeSchool of Film, TV & Performing ArtsMy mum is a ‘constant student’. Growingup I have seen her achieve three degrees, andfrom all her essays I have seen, I am officiallyfrightened of university assignments, yet I amstill tempted to go. Assessments to me mean alot of reading! I found A-levels were differentfrom GCSEs, as work is not regurgitated to youby a teacher and a lot of research and effort isneeded. I feel that at GCSE level you are taughthow to pass exams, but with A-levels you haveto comprehend the subjects and develop goodexam techniques and an excellent work ethos.An alternate reality of my life perhaps? Wouldlife be different if I ate breakfast or not? Thiswould be the perfect assignment for me,because it would allow an analysis of myself.  I think an important skill to have for universitywould be analytical skills, particularly for mychosen course, Law. Being self-reliant andconfident in yourself would also be a big asset.In my opinion, to be able to get the best out ofuniversity, I would need to trust myself, to be able to keep to deadlines and even handle the pressures of exams.Nkechi OyemhenUpper 6th, Notre Dame CollegeHoping to study Law““36257 New ALT Journal:Layout 1  19/8/08  16:28  Page 27

Book of Modules 2007: BA (Hons) Contemporary Performance Practices.

Learning and Pedagogy in Communities of Practice.

Statistics: Foundation degrees 2006. Available at: http://www.ucas.ac.uk/website/statistical_services /statsonline/26732/foundation/2006_tables#3 [Accessed

First- and last-year experience: assessment, learning and teaching on a top-up degree

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