The Art Elective Programme is an elective that several schools in Singapore offer as a subject. These schools have received permission from the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore. This programme is also known as Higher Art and can also be offered as an Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (O-level) subject.
Contents
Lessons for Art Elective Programme (AEP) are usually conducted in a separate classroom and sometimes after curricular classes. Schools that offer AEP as a subject would normally have an art room, a media lab and facilities to store and use art materials, such as pottery. In AEP, students learn how to design or work with digital art programs like Adobe Illustrator. Techniques with basic mediums such as pencil, pen and paint will be taught during lessons.
However, AEP is not just about doing art. The lessons also include Study Of the Visual Arts (SOVA), in which the students be taught about renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Affandi and Andy Warhol. The students are required to analyse the works of these artists and describe their styles, brushstrokes, colours used, etc...
History
The Art Elective Programme was announced in 1983 by the Ministry of Education. It was conceived as an enrichment programme for students with a flair for art. It was first offered in January 1984 by the Chinese High School and the Nanyang Girls' High School.
Coursework
Every year, students will have to do coursework at least twice. This is a project of sorts, ranging anywhere within the spectrum of art and design. Tasks include but are not limited to designing a logo, character, or photography. Coursework has a heavy weightage in the overall grade of AEP given at the end of the year
Examinations
Throughout the 4 exams of the year(Continual Assessments 1 and 2, Semestral Assessments 1 and 2) the students will have SOVA and Drawing and Painting papers. Drawing and Painting papers vary in duration and students are allowed to create an artwork within this period of around 2–3 hours. Two weeks before the Drawing and Painting paper, students will be given several themes to choose from. They will then have to use the two weeks to complete their assigned task. The paper is then marked according to five components: Investigation and Interpretation of Theme, Exploration and Development of Theme, Aesthetic Qualities, Control of Materials and Technical Processes and Personal Response. For the SOVA examination, the students will be tested on several artists that they will have studied during their lessons. They will have to examine selected artworks by these artists and interpret their styles and methods applied to produce the artwork. This paper is considered as a "theory" examination.