England’s biggest exam board has scrubbed the names of two photographers from one of its GCSE assessments over concerns their websites contain images that “may not be appropriate” for students.
In an email to schools last week, AQA announced that references to Sam Taylor-Johnson and Tim Walker in questions for an art and design paper had been removed to “protect” pupils.
One of the pages contains a video of a fully-naked man, while the other has photographs of models appearing to simulate sex.
Teacher flagged the issue
An AQA spokesperson said: “We recognise that the photographers are distinguished artists in their field, but some of their content may not be appropriate for GCSE students.”
Both photographers were referenced in questions in this year’s externally set assessment for GCSE art and design.
The papers are usually shared with pupils in January. They contain seven “starting points” on different themes for pupils to choose from and suggest artists to research.
Students then use them to inform their preparation for a ten-hour supervised assessment, by the end of which they will have produced their own piece.
AQA confirmed it had been informed by a teacher earlier this month about material on one of the artists’ websites. It made “further checks” and found another “whose website similarly had images that were potentially not appropriate”.
…but no complaints received
It has since “updated” the papers to remove the references to Taylor-Johnson and Walker. In the email, the exam board said its “priority is always to protect our learners”.
Despite this, the spokesperson said it has “not yet received any complaints about this matter”.
“AQA follows strict safeguarding principles while selecting artists, based on information available to us at that time
“We do however recognise that online content can change and we’re looking into further processes to reduce the chance of this happening again in the future.”
AQA is also “looking into further processes we can put in place to stop this from happening again”.
Teachers using printed copies of the assessment have been asked to “redact the names of these artists and their work” themselves, or to print the new version.
‘No impact on work’
The AQA spokesperson stressed the “starting points for students’ research are unchanged, so … this matter has no impact on the way we will assess their work”.
Taylor-Johnson’s website contains various photographs and videos of celebrities, including David Hockney, Daniel Craig, Kirsten Dunst and Megan Rapinoe
It also promotes a number of the films she’s directed, like Fifty Shades of Grey and the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black.
But among the pieces displayed is one called Brontosaurus, a 10-minute, slow-motion video of a man dancing naked in his bedroom.
Meanwhile, Walker’s page features work produced for a number of publications, like Vogue and the Evening Standard. Among them are photographs of the likes of Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy and Vivienne Westwood.
But there are also topless pictures of singer Beth Ditto and images of men appearing to simulate sex.
Representatives of both artists have been approached for comment.
