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5. 2015 HSC Notes from the Marking Centre — Textiles and Design

2015 Notes from the Marking Centre – Textiles and Design

Introduction

This document has been produced for the teachers and candidates of the Stage 6 Textiles and Design course. It contains comments on candidate responses to the 2015 Higher School Certificate examination, highlighting their strengths in particular parts of the examination and indicating where candidates need to improve.
This document should be read along with:

• the Textiles and Design Stage 6 Syllabus
• the 2015 Higher School Certificate Textiles and Design examination
• the marking guidelines
• Advice for HSC students about examinations
• other support documents developed by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW to assist in the teaching and learning of Textiles and Design in Stage 6.

Major Textiles Project

Textile item(s)

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• creating textile item(s) with both aesthetic and functional features
• demonstrating a level of proficiency in the techniques and manufacture of the item(s)
• manufacturing textile item(s) with a degree of difficulty using a number of techniques.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• showing relevance of the item(s) to end-use, with appropriate design features relating to the end-use
• showing innovation/creativity in fabric, design or construction methods
• using a wider range of techniques and design features and selecting appropriate fabric suitable for construction of the item(s)
• manufacturing items to completion
• using sewing and decorative techniques, rather than using glue or painting to display evidence of textile construction
• avoiding the use of sharp items or plug-in electronic features.

Supporting documentation

Design inspiration

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• identifying and explaining the relationship of the design inspiration to one focus area and justifying the relationship to the end-use application of the textile item(s)
• demonstrating an understanding of the design inspiration and the visual presentation by including annotation
• identifying the inspiration of historical/cultural/contemporary factors relevant to their textile item(s).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• critically analysing the inspiration and justifying this to the focus area of the project
• justifying in detail the relationship to the inspiration
• using a greater variety of inspirational pictures/samples
• identifying the relationship between the textile item(s) and the aesthetic/functional aspects
• identifying source(s) of inspiration with sufficient detail
• analysing the relevance of historical/cultural/contemporary factors.

Visual design development

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• describing the inspiration and the development of design ideas for the item(s)
• identifying the aesthetic and functional design features of their final design
• identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their developed designs.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• presenting well-labelled, hand-drawn or computer-generated (not scanned) sketches that relate to the focus area selected and reflect the inspiration presented
• relating principles and elements of design to the end-use of the intended textile item(s)
• linking the visual imagery/collage to the inspiration and the textile item(s)
• presenting sketches that identify construction techniques appropriate to the design development process
• analysing the positive of the final design and how weaknesses have been eliminated
• presenting sketches with a visual flow of ideas from initial design to final design development.

Manufacturing specification

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• providing pattern pieces to scale with appropriate labelling
• presenting labelled fabric swatches
• including a product label with all information relevant to the textile item(s)
• presenting a sequential and logical order of construction
• providing a costing table.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• providing a concise and accurate written description of the textile item(s)
• identifying the use of commercial pattern(s) and any modifications made
• identifying outsourcing and any commercially produced components of the textile item(s), for example, laser cutting
• including production drawings of an acceptable standard with relevant labelling and measurements
• using pattern pieces that are drawn or computer-generated rather than photocopies of commercial pattern instruction sheets
• including a detailed set of instructions on how to make the items.

Investigation, experimentation and evaluation

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• describing relevant experiments for the most significant techniques used in the production of the textile item(s)
• justifying the selection of fibre, yarn and fabric for the textile item(s) produced.

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• synthesising and making reference to relevant experiments
• providing evidence of completing experiments and including actual samples of techniques relevant to the textile item(s) rather than scans or photographs of evidence
• including relevant information from textbooks or websites relating to the properties of fibre, yarn and fabric that are relevant to the item
• using experiments to justify the materials, equipment and techniques
• justifying modification to the item based on analysis of experimentation.

Written examination

Section II

Question 11

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• using words such as 'pesticides', 'environment', 'chemicals', 'dyes', 'skin sensitivity' and 'skin allergies' to support their response
• identifying organic fibre sources (part a)
• recognising the difference between mass-produced and niche products (part b).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• understanding what organic means (part a)
• providing specific and relevant examples for mass-produced and for niche textile products (part b).

Question 12

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• identifying a principle of dyeing (part a)
• identifying a specific textile art form and showing how it can be a medium for communication (part b)
• identifying different forms of resources (part c).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• outlining a principle of dyeing (part a)
• not confusing principles of dyeing with printing (part a)
• clearly relating textile fabric design to resource availability (part c).

Question 13

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• recognising the relevant properties (part a)
• showing some understanding of microfibres (part b)
• naming a suitable textile item made from microfibre (part b)
• differentiating between fabric, yarn and fibre and giving relevant properties related to jeans (part c).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• understanding how the structure of microfibres contributes to the properties of items they are made into (part b)
• relating relevant fabric, yarn and fibre properties to the use or performance of jeans (part c).

Section III

Question 14

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• recognising the broader economic issues affecting designers, for example, the high Australian dollar and lower overseas production costs (part a)
• identifying characteristics of both social and economic factors affecting designers (part a)
• understanding how inspiration relates to the work of designers (part b)
• naming several examples of fabric decoration and colouration (part b)
• showing some link between inspiration and fabric decoration (part b)
• relating specific designers and the inspirations that are evident in their work to this question (part b).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• supporting response with specific examples when appropriate (parts a and b)
• differentiating between economics and eco-friendliness (part a)
• understanding the difference between economic (external) and financial (internal) factors (part a)
• referring specifically to colouration/decoration instead of focusing on the work of designers in general (part b)
• addressing the method of colouration rather than just colours in their responses (part b).

Question 15

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• identifying a range of properties required for reusable bags (part a)
• making a link between aesthetic properties and a consumer’s desire to reuse a bag (part a)
• identifying specific styles of reusable shopping bags such as non-woven supermarket bags, woven handmade bags, and nylon fold-up bags (part a)
• identifying specific examples of computerised machines used in design and/or manufacture (part b)
• providing some effects of the use of computer-linked machines on the consumer and/or the environment (part b)
• showing some understanding of the use of computer-linked machines in the textile industry (part b).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• understanding the difference between recyclable and reusable bags (part a), providing design features that are relevant to the purpose of the item (part a)
• describing the properties rather than simply presenting a list of properties (part a)
• using relevant examples to illustrate the effects of the use of computer-linked machines (part b)
• addressing the effects on both the consumers and the environment (part b).