Summative Evaluation

I think my research skills have developed during this module, I feel more confident reading and understanding texts and picking out information. I feel I have adopted a more sophisticated approach to how I interpret texts but I still need to work on my analysis of relevancy to my topic. I often found myself with a really interesting point that I wanted to write about but it just wasn't working towards answering my question. 

I think my final publication has been a success, personally I am really pleased with the outcome as I feel it does its job of making the reader ask questions about what it means to be British and challenges preconceptions people may have. I think the concept of it looking like a passport works well with the idea of challenging perceptions and making people question what it presented to them. Although the survey I did was only small, it had a really strong impact on the content of my publication. The publication felt much more informed and valid knowing that the information inside had stemmed from real people’s responses. I feel that my sketchbook work that I had done alongside writing my essay sort of got left behind in the process of making my publication, this is one regret I have. I could have worked harder to embed the concept deeper into the making of my book through more subtle imagery alongside the current content. 

Time management has been an issue for me during this module, also organisation. I should have realised a lot earlier on that being organised with the work I bring to sessions and crits directly impacts the quality of feedback I get. I did find the sessions challenging and interesting and I feel I contributed well to them. 

I think my major downfall during the module was my confidence in my own ideas. I found myself constantly seeking approval that I was on the right track and not being able to trust my own instincts. Analysing texts and writing is not something I am overly confident with but it was primarily the publication concept that I found myself struggling with. I was not trusting myself to go ahead with an idea meaning that I had numerous idea changes and rethinks which consequently hindered the progress and flow of the project. However, having to battle with the process of choosing an idea for my publication resulted in me landing on something I am really happy with and I feel the whole process has been well informed by my continual research which ran parallel between my visual and written work. 

I am happy with the standard of my essay, especially the improvements made since the interim submission. I did lose my enthusiasm for the subject quite early on in the module and I think this shows in my writing. I concluded that the overall answer to the question would differ on an individual  basis but because of this, it sounds like my conclusion is lacking any real resolution. The structure was something I struggled with and my feedback from the interim submission suggested that it needed reordering. I worked hard to get the paragraphs to flow and for the argument to make sense. I feel this has worked and the exploration of the topic is clearer to understand now. 

I must admit my motivation for this module had its peaks and troughs. Even when my motivation was at its lowest, I still completed the tasks and lecture notes in order to not fall behind. It was definitely the pressure of the deadline that drove me to increase my productivity which led to me being quite last minute with making my publication and adding the final touches to my essay. My attitude to the module has not been the best and I aim to improve this for next year. I am hoping to find a research question that I can maintain an interest in throughout the module, I think this will be the key to making it a success for me. 

Looking ahead to my dissertation, it will be crucial for me to get a lot of research done over the summer. I do enjoy the research process once I get going with it but I need to try and force myself to be efficient with it and not get sidetracked by other interesting topics outside my area of research. Next year I am going to aim to have clear questions to ask at crits and tutorials, I think it is the best way to get the most out of them. I am also going to remember to blog all of the information I looked at so I don’t forget where quotes have come from or where I have read certain things. I realised during when writing my essay that I had been making notes about concepts and potential arguments but not writing down where I had read the information that sparked the ideas. 

Final Publication

This is my final publication, it is printed at the scale of a standard to add to the idea of challenging perceptions. I am really pleased with the outcome after having so much confusion earlier on in the process about what to base my publication on. 

I am slightly disappointed that the cover printed much darker than I thought it would (it also showed up dark in previous ISSUU presentations and i'm still not sure why) and also, when the cover was folded, the edge has cracked to reveal white. It doesn't make that much of a difference but to em it lowers the quality of it as a final piece. In the future I should talk to James in the print room and ask if there is a better paper to use that would avoid this problem. 

I think the publication looks better with more colour on the internal pages, it brings a bit more life to it. I am also pleased I only chose to have questions on the introduction and summary pages because it directs the thinking towards the reader and they can form their own opinions. Hopefully the time spent reading the book between these two pages will alter challenge their preconceptions or at least make them think about the topic in a bit more depth. 

Final Essay

COP 3 Research Proposal

COP3 Research

https://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2012/february/where-is-the-content-where-is-the-comment-2/

Zeegen tackles the issue of illustration becoming too involved with itself and not having enough connection and communication with the world. He questions whether anyone outside the industry is actually interested in what's going on. 

Is this right? Shouldn't illustration be communicating to a much wider audience? Shouldn't it be commenting on the issues in the world today? Is it okay for it to be self involved and not really communicating a real concept? Material over message? 

Shrigley - Fight the Nothingness.

How does an individual's approach and view on illustration affect their career and how far it can take them? Is it necessary to have an opinion? Does illustration always need to SAY something? Is it still illustration if it is only decorative?

Relating this to censorship...

Is illustration censored to the same extent as the written word?

Can illustration bypass censorship?

By commenting on the world through visual means, can illustration battle against censorship in the media?

Distribution of media, avoid online censorship, avoid censorship in publications, etc. 

http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/illustration/design-ethics-can-you-stick-your-beliefs/

This article shares the opinions and experiences of designers' making choices about what work they do and don't take on. 

Choosing who to work for. 

Should personal opinion and morals be left at the door when it comes to work?

Does this depend on the type of work you are in? Working for a company means you are getting paid to put forward a certain view or message whereas working for yourself is more self directed. 

Do illustrators have a choice? Are they avoiding the duties of their job or are they keeping their practice relevant to their own opinions?

Do designers feel comfortable putting their name to something they don't agree with?

Visual Journal Drawings

These are some pages from my visual journal that I have been drawing in alongside the research for my essay felt were particularly successful in helping me understand the difference between essentialism and post modern identity. In hindsight, I should have continued this process in more depth and aimed to use some of my results from this in my final publication to help get across my concept.

Final Imagery for Publication

From my previous sketches, I draw out my final images in ink, I then used tracing paper to add colour in pencil crayon. I merged these two layers together on photoshop and made relevant alterations to colour. 

The writing actually went better than expected once I had become comfortable with writing in a certain way. I often have trouble keeping my handwriting the same for a long period of time but this task forced me to do so. I was going to personalise each one and use a different type for each name but this just added unnecessary complications and my main focus at the moment is just working hard to get this completed to a standard I am happy with. I have made the mistake many times before of overcomplicating tasks and it not always working out for the best. I think I am learning. 

I have included screenshots of the internal pages which I printed out and made a small mockup of. Physically looking through this was helpful to me. I felt like more colour was needed so I am going to increase the saturation of the imagery and also add colour to the name and age. 

To make the front cover, I traced a large copy of the emblem on the front of a passport and simplified it as I went over this in ink. As I was working on this I realised that I could hint at the concept of globalisation by changing the coat of arms in the centre to a globe. I like this subtle hint to the topic because I don't think many people would notice it at a first glance but they probably would after they have read and understood the concept of the book. 

Again, fitting in with the handmade theme of the book, I printed off the text for the cover in Times New Roman and used this as a template for writing the letters in ink. I like the slightly wobbly and wonky edges, it shows that there is something different about it but it is similar enough to the original to look real from a distance. 

For the inside cover I made a simple repeat pattern, after experimenting briefly with colour I settled for the black and white version but at a lower opacity. I felt that it wasn't too overpowering like the others could have been. It will also work well as the inside cover sits alongside the intro and summary pages which are just black writing on a white background. 

COP3 - Combining Ideas?

I am wondering if it is possible to find some common ground between the two areas I have been looking into...

Themes relating to question 4: To what extent do technological developments in production and distribution impact on illustration? 

online publications, gifs, animation, phone apps, digital age, digital takeover, social media, advertising, accessibility, being watched, being programmed, subconscious advertising, manipulation, targeted advertising, attention span, throwaway society, is illustration in a digital form appreciated as much as in physical form?, artificial intelligence, can creativity be mimicked with technology? is it purely a human trait? can creativity be programmed? is there a formula? 

Themes relating to question 1: What is good? To what extent does social responsibility impact on the role and function of illustration?

Morals, ethics, world issues, the environment, health, technology, conflict, politics, religion, values, protection, warnings, advice, information, education, positivity, wellbeing, speaking the truth, sharing opinion, battling oppression, freedom of speech, battling censorship, hearing everyone's voice, taboo subjects, crime, rehabilitation, sharing experiences, selective information, advertising, targeting weaker audiences, corporations,  power, consumerism, capitalism, who to work for and who not to work for, morals over money or money over morals? content over technical ability or the reverse? communication, comment, having an opinion, 

Common ground...

Looking at whether it is ethical to be using technology in such a way to target people with advertising to the extent that they cannot escape it. It is integrated into every part of our lives, especially through digital media - television, phones, online, location GPS, cookies...

Is it possible for creativity to be created? If it is, wha are the moral implications of doing so? Does it limit freedom of speech for real humans? Creative industries is what share messages of real people - should this be taken over by a corporation as well?

How does technology enforce censorship in the media? Can the truth be shared online or only through underground means?

From writing all of this, I have realised that it is the 'what is good?' question that interests me the most. I find the concept of artificial intelligence really interesting but most of my ideas for research proposals stem back to whether the concept is ethical/moral or not. I have gone through and highlighted the themes that I found particularly interesting and I think might have some potential. I know I have highlighted most of it but I am starting to understand more where I want this to go. 

Publication Development

These were some layout ideas for the internal pages. I don't have enough time to do more than one image for each page so I am going to stick to one image, two or three blocks of text, a name and age for each. 

It is important that the whole publication looks handmade because I want it to feel personal as these are the stories of individual people. I also want it to rebel against the structured, box-ticking method of categorising that nationality currently follows. I wanted to show more freedom and individuality with my work. This needs to continue through the text so I am going to write it all by hand.

This is a plan for the whole book. I noticed that the layout is very restricted by having a full bleed image where the picture of the person goes off the page at the bottom. To solve this I am going to make the images vignettes which can be placed anywhere on the page, this will help the layout to vary and flow.

Revised plans for internal pages. 

For the cover, I have come up with the idea of making it look like a passport which received some good feedback in the recent crit. I want this to contribute to the idea of challenging perceptions by making it look like it is going to be a cliché novelty souvenir purchase when actually it is going to question the reader and provoke thought. I have chosen the title 'The Pocket Guide to Being British' as it gives off the 'gift shop' vibe which can then be contrasted with the content inside. 

I am pleased with how this is going so far. I am kicking myself for leaving this task until so late in the project but I have had a battle with finding the right idea and now I have landed on this I feel like I am running with it and it is going well. 

Sketchbook Work for Publication

After solidifying the text for my publication, I searched for reference imagery to work on. I have changed the ages and genders so that there is a good age range and an even split of male and female. I have focussed on young people and children as from my research for my essay, the concept of people taking on a more global identity is something more common in recent generations. Using younger people as the subject for the book implies that this is something that will become increasingly common in the future.

I must admit, my initial drawings for this were terrible. I was using fine liners and felt tips and I just felt a total lack of control over my lines. I felt I needed to loosen up so I changed to using ink and a brush. The results were still not high quality but at least I was getting somewhere, as I got into it there were a few drawings that I saw actually had potential. I liked the loose style the ink and brush was creating, it was relevant to the reportage-esque process I was trying to replicate. It was quick and to the point and helped make the images look like they had been drawn from life at an interview.

After some experiments with gouache and pencil crayon, I opted for a sketchy approach to using coloured pencils to add colour. Again, I felt this fitted with the idea that this has been done on location and the colour medium has been used minimally to capture the features of the face. 

At this point I changed one of my characters as I didn't feel that my book was showing enough racial diversity and this is something that is important to getting across the message of my book. 

Survey Responses

I have received a total of nine responses to the survey I sent out. In hindsight I should have sent this out a lot earlier if I wanted to get more responses and also from a wider audience rather than just people I already know. I structured the survey so that the answers could give me inspiration for the wording of my publication, as long as the person answered yes to the final question, their answers to all the other questions are immediately relevant. I am pleased with the feedback and I am going to use the answers as inspiration, I don't want the stories of the people in the book to be traceable back to the survey participants as I don't think that's fair. 

COP3 Ideas

Question 4: To what extent do technological developments in production and distribution impact on illustration? 

I have been reading a book called ‘A Whole New Mind’ by Daniel H Pink which is about why people who predominantly use the right side of their brain will succeed in the future. It is about how a lot of left brain functions can be mimicked by machinery more easily than the right brain functions, and therefore jobs based around right brain functions will most likely stay in the hands of humans for longer. I feel an interest in this topic may have stemmed from my essay for COP1 which was about how developments in technology have impacted on illustrators’ practices. I am keen to look at whether illustration and/or broader creative disciplines are under threat from developments in technology. 

Another potential route that this could take is whether the rise of social media has helped or hindered illustrators’ practices. The arguments could be that it gains publicity but they also have less control over the sharing of their images. 

Relevant subjects: the rise of the online publication, animation, artificial intelligence, social media, job market. 

Relevant quotes: "If we take seriously the dictionary-definititon of creation, ‘to bring into being or form out of nothing’, creativity seems to be not only beyond any scientific understanding, but even impossible.” (Margaret A Boden - Artificial Intelligence and Creativity) “Maybe the only significant difference between a really smart simulation and a human being was the noise they made when you punched them.” (Terry Pratchett - The Long Earth).

Relevant books: ‘A Whole New Mind’ by Daniel H Pink, ‘Play Matters’ by Miguel Sicart, ‘Creativity and Artificial Intelligence’ by Margaret A Boden, ‘Drawing on the Right Side of The Brain’ by Betty Edwards, ‘The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms’ by Margaret A Boden

Relevant websites: http://www.wired.com/2012/12/ff-robots-will-take-our-jobs/, instagram.com, nytimes.com, http://www.madeyoulookdoc.co.uk, twitter.com

Alternatively….

Question 1: What is good? To what extent does social responsibility impact on the role and function of illustration?

I like the idea that illustration can be used for positive change and I feel that morals play an important part in my practice so this would be something interesting to investigate. This has been the basis of my applied illustration module as the overall aim is to promote positivity and wellbeing. I think having social responsibility plays a big part in this discipline, the whole concept of communicating something through imagery can be put to good use and I feel communicating a positive message is important. Also raising awareness of things going on in the world and trying to combat censorship in the media is crucial for allowing people to form their own opinions. I know that I feel it is important but it would be interesting to investigate opposing views, maybe looking into the morality of illustrating for big corporations or companies seen as unethical. 

This is the information I brought to yesterday's crit. I have not yet decided on which of these routes I want to go down. I am torn because I feel like the first option would be interesting to investigate into but I'm not sure how I could incorporate this into a visual project. The second option is something I see as relevant to my practice and what I would like it to be in the future however I don't feel it has much direction (yet) to base a research proposal on. I need to do more research!

Megacrit Feedback

This has been one of the rare moments during this module where I have actually been pleased and quite confident with what I have to show at a crit. I know I should be further along with my book by now but I feel I have a clear idea that I can just be getting on with. I think I have learnt from this module that being organised with what I bring to the crit directly impacts the quality of the feedback I get. The feedback I received was generally positive and offered suggestions of things I should consider. I really liked the format of the crit today, pairing up and spending 15 minutes on one person's project meant I was able to give and receive more in depth comments which I hope will be more helpful. 

Feedback Sheet

My Response

My peers said my research was in depth and thorough which I agree with to some extend but obviously I think I could and should have done more. 

I am pleased that it was clear what my progression had been from my essay to my publication, I tried to explain this well with the blogposts I printed and the notes I scribbled down to help guide people through the journey. I am glad it doesn't just look like I am directly illustrating my essay.

I agree with the comment about the composition of the book pages needing to flow. I had sketched out the pages with very similar formats and I am aware this might get repetitive and boring. In response to this, I could think about mixing it up a bit and showing different body parts such as hands or hair to show the person instead of generic portrait. This would work especially well if the image was directly relevant to the wording. 

From the positive comments I receive about this, I am going to go ahead with using an adaptation of the British passport as the cover of my book. I am also going to mimic the size so it actually looks like one from a distance - this will visually represent the concept of challenging perceptions as it is not what it seems. 

I agree with the comments stating that I need to do experimentation, I know I do, I need to get on with it. I have booked a printing slot for Tuesday and I am aiming to finish my book by Sunday so that I can spend next week tying up loose ends in my essay, writing an evaluation and preparing for submission. 

Humans of New York Research

Humans of New York began as a photography project, the aim was to make a catalogue of people and place them on a map of New York. The project evolved into a catalogue of stories alongside photographs and they are shared on a very popular online blog. I have chosen to write about this project because I can see similarities between this and my proposed publication. I want to show the people visually but also explain what they are about, where they are from and their thoughts on identity. I think the book will follow a similar format to this, each page consisting of an image and some writing. 

This blog has over eight million followers so I know its not just me who is interested in reading about people's lives. I find people's stories really interesting. I think this is why I am finding this idea for my publication more inspiring than my previous ideas. I have lived in England all my life and as far as I can trace my family back, we have all been based in England. I think it is because of this that I find it really interesting to learn about other cultures and how other people's family history influences how they live their lives today. 

Olivier Kugler Research

I looked into Olivier Kugler's work for some reportage inspiration. I like the way the text is broken up a bit on the page, as if little snippets have been written down separately as part of a conversation. It makes it seem more informal, especially with the drawn in their usual surroundings. It seems very real and unstated which is an approach I want to imitate. One concern with having the text being spaced out like this is that this might not work on the smaller scale I am working to, especially with this amount of text. I think the wiring needs to be kept concise but still needs to be written in an informal way, as if it had been spoken, not written. 

I should think about including visual elements other than just the portrait/figure. I feel I might be able to get across more information this way. An alternative idea would be to have it just as the portrait with no visual representation of the wording. This would get across the idea that we are all the same and nobody really knows anyone else's identity or heritage from a first glance. It might help to battle against prejudice and fit with the theme of the book, challenging perceptions of what British is. 

What does it mean to be British?

Hybrid Identities Research

My initial plan for this was to research the main causes of hybrid identities in the UK and create some examples to portray these. However, this felt very manufactured and not really representing the actual people of Britain. 

I then thought the best idea would be to send out an anonymous survey to people to fill out. I thought about this a bit more but I felt that the responses I would be getting, although about a personal topic, would feel very personal. I want to show the people in my book as real people so if I have no visuals or information about their personality then I don't feel it would really work. It would be mimicking the box-ticking process that this publication is trying to break away from. 

My final solution, the one I went ahead with was to ask people who I already knew to fill out my questionnaire. This way, I have an idea about their personality, appearance and sometimes their way of life. If I use the information given to me in the survey responses, I am going to make sure that the final outcome does not directly represent them because it is a personal thing to talk about how you identify yourself and I understand that people wouldn't want this directly publicised. Using primary research to inform the backstories I am going to write will mean that they are based on real people, I think this gives the book more grounding than just manufacturing all of the material myself. Also, using people that I know shows that it is a really common occurrence for people to have some form of a hybrid identity. 

This is the survey I sent to people. 

I’m making a small publication looking at hybrid identities and aiming to challenge perceptions of what it means to be British. 

Any information that ends up being included in the book will not be traced back to you. 

If you feel uncomfortable answering any of these questions please don’t feel like you have to. Participation on any level would be appreciated. 

1. List the nationalities, cultures, ethnicities, languages and religions you feel you identify with on some level.
2. Which of these do you feel you identify with the most and why? If none of them have a significant impact then please say so.
3. Is there anything about your family that has had an influence on your answer to question one? (employment, religious upbringing, immigration, relationships, etc)
4. List all of the countries you have ever lived in during your life time.
5. When asked what nationality you are, what would be your response?
6. What do you think it means to be British?
7. Are you a British Passport holder? (or eligible to hold a British Passport)

Reportage Illustration

I want the book to adopt a reportage style, if that is actually a thing. Basically, I want to illustrate the book as if I had directly interviewed someone and I had written down their exact response, I could have drawn them and maybe parts of their surroundings. I think this will make the book feel more personal and relatable to the reader. Obviously the information in the book will be partly constructed but the basis of it is really genuine.    

Image wise, I want to have a portrait of each person, I will use reference imagery for this but not of the actual person I surveyed. I feel drawing the exact person but manipulating their words is unfair. If one thing is going to be manipulated then the other should be too. At least because I know these people I know I won't be choosing an appearance that strays too widely from what they actually look like. I just don't want them to be recognisable. 

Provoking Thought

When I was thinking about what I want this book to achieve, I was thinking about using it to provoke thoughts. This made me think about one of my hotdog books which I was going to develop into a book of questions about society that people don't seem to question.  I really like the idea of using questions to get the reader to really think about the topic. Aside from the 'speech' of the people in the book, I think the only other wiring I will use will be phrased as a question. I need to figure out what exactly to ask and when to get the maximum impact. (What does it mean to be British? What does being British mean to you? What is the future for national identity?)

Review of COP2 so far

Since the crit I have been thinking about how to adapt my idea. I agree that aiming it at children does dumb down the topic a bit too much but I like the idea that focussing on young people provokes thought about the future. Instead of aiming the book at children, I have adapted it to be about young people. I feel my previous idea was basically illustrating the policy in relation to the school environment. I want to get my idea across in a  more personal and individual way by focussing on the stories of real people. I think I am going to go down the route of case studies to get across the concept  of these modern British values. I want the point to be made that the future people of Britain are people of the globe. 

I decided to go through my blog and pick out the information that is still relevant to my current pathway. I thought I might have strayed too far off topic but this has reassured me that all my research is linking together.

Paths I want to pursue:

• British values
• National identity
• Hybrid identities
• Challenging perceptions
• The future of national identity

Peer Feedback

Feedback

The main feedback I received on my activity book was that it was a good idea but it didn't match the level of concept, analysis and intellect of my essay. I think the title of my essay makes it sound more intellectual than it actually is, but I appreciated the comment and I agree that the book is dumbing down the research I have done and is not allowing me to push mu ideas for fear of it not fitting the audience. 

At first, my group and I discussed about how my current idea could be adapted to show a deeper meaning and it was suggested that I research early British values from the 40s and 50s to show a contrast to what they are like today. I could use a 50s art style in my modern day book to try to get across the contrast. I like this idea but I'm still not finding it interesting. 

As I spoke more about my essay and research, the idea came up about peoples attitudes to nationality and how I could use this in a visual way. It could be a case of nationalists vs people open to the merging of cultures. After this, I thought about a series of case studies and using the book as a way to tell different people's stories and how this has affected how they value their nationality. 

I spoke to Pete after the session because I was feeling very lost with the whole project. I felt like whenever U received feedback I seemed to come away with a totally different idea, I understand that the project needs to evolve but by this point in the module, I was hoping to have had a more solid plan. We spoke about the activity book and how the whole concept of the policy is very overanalyse and based on 'box ticking'. Even by trying to enforce equality and respect between people, it can often cause unfairness and labelling in the process. 

Overall, I need to be more brave with my ideas and decisions. For this module, I know I have been seeking approval of my ideas because I don't have a lot of confidence in my ideas on this topic. I think I need to trust my own thoughts and just run with an idea that I feel has the potential to work well. 

Self Evaluation

What works well and how will I capitalise on it?
I think the progression from my essay to the ideas for my publication are well connected but not too literally. I will try to capitalise on this by working on both tasks in parallel so they can influence each other and also do more research to develop the concepts.

What could be improved and how will I benefit from this?
I could be doing more drawing and development work and using drawing as a method of research. This might help me to come up with more interesting ideas and battle through the clichés. 

What could I do differently and what would this achieve?
I should not be neglecting my essay so much, I feel like I have done very little work on it since the draft submission. It is important to keep my essay on track so the information can potentially cross over into my publication. 

What am I learning by responding to this brief and why is it important?
1. I am learning to analyse my research better which is important to make sure I only use relevant information. 
2. I am learning about time management and how poor I have been at it with this module, it is important for me to learn about this now so that I can make changes for Cop3. 
3. I am learning to be more confident with my ideas and trust my judgement more, this is important as the course workload is becoming increasingly independent. 

Fry's Planet Word - Identity

These are the notes I took whilst watching a documentary about language by Stephen Fry. It was really interesting to learn about how lesser spoken local languages are dying out because of globalisation and how they are having to evolve to stand a chance at surviving. This had links to my essay because it shows that there are a lot of people who want to battle against globalisation and stay true to their heritage. However, there becomes a point where it is crucial for them to adapt. 

I also found it interesting that even in these areas where lesser known languages are spoken, a lot of them are still taught more global languages like English when in school. It raises the point of whether it is essential for young people to be able to speak a widely recognised language and how this affects their chances of employment or place in higher education. 

Publication Development

These are some examples of some rough drawings I did around the themes of the points in the policy. I feel my ideas at the moment are quite cliche but for an audience of children, maybe its wise not to steer this too far away from the obvious for fear of them misunderstanding it.  

This is a plan of each page in the book, obviously at a very basic stage. It would be a twelve page publication with each point in the policy taking up one individual page alone. I have been trying to link the activity to the point of the page but this is proving difficult. I can't help but feeling that this approach to my publication is dumbing the subject down a lot and not allowing me to use my research to its full potential. 

This was a mock up of an individual page, if I'm honest, I don't like it. To me, it does look like something that would exist in a book similar to the one I am proposing, however this doesn't mean that I see it as successful. Like I said before, I feel like the topic is being overly simplified and it has no impact or lesson in it. 

I am going to take what I have done so far to the crit on Friday and air my concerns about my work. Hopefully explaining my ideas to other people will make it clearer in my own head or make me realise that the book has no real potential. 

Re-written Proposal

I intend to produce a 12 page publication based on promoting British values in schools. It will be based on the standard policy published by the coalition government but will be directly aimed at children in school as a way of making them aware of these values at a young age. I am aiming this at children between the ages of 4 to 8 years which covers the first few years of primary school. The intention is for this to take the form of an activity book which can be completed either as part of a lesson, as a hand out after an assembly or as a homework task to complete with or without the help of a guardian depending on the age and abilities of the child. The booklet needs to be engaging, informative, friendly, appropriate and inclusive. 

This proposal for my publication links to my essay because my essay talks about how people value their nationality and what the future is for the concept as a whole. The fact that these British values listed by the government are very much about being connected with the rest of the world and having freedom shows a clear movement away from any past sense of nationalism or extreme patriotism or exclusivity. Targeting my book at children points the focus to the future and what views the future adults of Britain will have on their national identity. 

Policy

This news article was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Strengthened guidance on improving the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils.

The Department for Education has today (27 November 2014) published guidance on promoting Bitish values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain.

The guidance aims to help both independent and state-maintained schools understand their responsibilities in this area. All have a duty to ‘actively promote’ the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. These values were first set out by the government in the ‘Prevent’ strategy in 2011. 

Until now schools have been required to ‘respect’ these values, but as a result of changes brought in earlier in the year all schools must now have a clear strategy for embedding these values and show how their work with pupils has been effective in doing so. In a letter to the Education Select Committee in March, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools Lord Nash explained the changes were designed to “tighten up the standards on pupil welfare to improve safeguarding, and the standards on spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils to strengthen the barriers to extremism”. 

Ofsted and the independent inspectorates now take the work of schools in this area into account during inspections.

Publishing the guidance today, Lord Nash said:

A key part of our plan for education is to ensure children become valuable and fully rounded members of society who treat others with respect and tolerance, regardless of background.

We want every school to promote the basic British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs.

This ensures young people understand the importance of respect and leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain.

Examples of the understanding and knowledge pupils are expected to learn include:

• an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process 
• an understanding that the freedom to hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law
• an acceptance that people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour
• an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination

Examples of actions schools can take to promote British values are to:

• include in suitable parts of the curriculum - as appropriate for the age of pupils - material on the strengths, advantages and disadvantages of democracy, and how democracy and the law works in Britain, in contrast to other forms of government in other countries
• ensure all pupils within the school have a voice that is listened to, and demonstrate how democracy works by actively promoting democratic processes such as a school council whose members are voted for by the pupils
• use opportunities such as general or local elections to hold mock elections to promote fundamental British values and provide pupils with the opportunity to learn how to argue and defend points of view
• consider the role of extra-curricular activity, including any run directly by pupils, in promoting fundamental British values

The government today also published its interim response to a consultation of the revised Independent Schools Standards (ISS). The revised standards cover independent schools, academies and free schools, ensuring they - along with local authority-maintained schools - must promote British values.