Level 2 Art and Design Skills Diploma

Course Code

Art & Design Skills

Course Type

Course Duration

1 year

Location

Central Campus

Start Date

1 September, 2025
Art & Design teacher with student

This Level 2 Art and Design Skills Diploma course is ideal for school leavers and young adults with some prior experience and interest in a creative subject wanting to explore and develop practical skills in art, design and textiles and create a portfolio of artwork that will enable them to achieve a full Level 2 qualification and progress onto a Level 3 course to specialise in art & design, fashion, graphic design, or other related courses.

Students will develop their skills in 2D/3D Art, and have ambitions to work in Architecture, Illustration, Graphic Design, Tattoo Artistry and other related creative careers.

You will need a full Level 1 qualification or 4 x GCSEs at Grade 3 and above. You should bring a portfolio of your work to your interview or submit it to the course tutor by email.

 

Learners on this course will explore a wide range of media and materials in purpose-built art studios. They’ll develop sketching, mark-making, painting, printmaking, sculpting, digital art and multi-media skills and techniques whilst learning about influential professional artists and the methods and techniques they use to create artwork.

Throughout the year, learners will create a portfolio of artwork that showcases their skills and shows their own individual artistic style. Students will respond to industry-related briefs and final pieces will be displayed in public exhibitions.

Modules include:

  • Unit A1: Skills Development

Learners will explore key fundamentals of art and design practice, learning how skills are integrated to create work. They will learn about creative investigation, communicating ideas, practical skills and productive approaches to working.

  • Unit A2: Creative Project

Learners will carry out the development of a full art and design project, using creative practices including investigation, ideas communication, practical skills and development using working skills.

  • Unit B1: Personal Progression

Learners will explore a range of opportunities within the art and design sector, establish personal aims for progression, and further develop the skills needed to progress towards their aims.

  • Unit C1: Responding to a Creative Brief

Learners will apply the skills they have developed throughout the programme to produce a proposal and practical response to a creative brief that demonstrates their ability to manage a creative project, from inception to communication of outcomes.

 

Facilities:

All students studying our Creative subjects have access to:

  • Large spacious classrooms
  • Fine art facilities including use of the studios where you can work on sculpting, print-making, casting, batik and many more.
  • Access to the Adobe Suite programmes within dedicated state-of-the-art digital media facilities with Macs and also full, free access from home.
  • A wide range of professional grade Photography facilities, including lighting rig, studio lights and dark room traditional printing facilities, including access to a broad range of film and digital cameras
  • Dedicated Exhibition spaces
  • Heat press, sewing machines, screen printing, print making
  • Library of art and design books, magazines and online resources
  • FabLab – industry-based design and maker facility with state-of-the-art equipment
  • All subject-based resources provided
  • Visits to museums and galleries, locally and nationally.
  • Engage in college-wide activities, eg. running art workshops for other cohorts to showcase and develop your skills of working with others.
  • Experience gallery tasters, tours and workshops with local artists to broaden your experiences in preparation to progress onto one of our Level 3 Art and Design pathways.
  • Take part in art competitionsExhibit your work in our annual ‘Festival of Arts’

 

Sandwell College isn’t all about studying. We’re proud to offer our students a whole range of enrichment activities which are not only good fun but help you make friends, develop new skills and add to your CV and university applications.

We run a full programme of activities giving you great opportunities to widen your experiences and gain important
skills to develop as a young adult.

This is your chance to shine, to stand out from the crowd, and get an edge over other candidates at interviews. Our Student Liaison team keeps you updated with Student Union activities, lets you voice your issues or concerns, and provides you with information about:

  • Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
  • Trips and Activities
  • Sports Teams
  • Clubs and Societies
  • TOTUM discount card for great deals on food, health & fitness and tech

Assessment is 100% coursework based. This includes a combination of practical 2D/3D work as a foundation to your studies. This will be presented in sketchbooks for each separate project.

A project brief will be provided for you to work with for each unit You will research and develop your ideas and produce your final work in response to your given brief. Your assessed work includes all of your skills development including 2D and 3D Art and Design techniques and the production of the actual final artwork. You will also evaluate how you think you’ve done within the project. This is then assessed to either pass, merit or distinction level and then we move on to the next unit.

Successful completion of this Level 2 Art and Design Skills Diploma course can lead to a BTEC Level 3 National in Art and Design Practice Extended Diploma in one of our specialist areas: Art & Design, Fashion or Digital Media.

You will leave with a professional portfolio of 2D/3D work suitable for future careers in: architecture, tattooing, graphic design, illustration and much more.

Course Details

Qualification

Exam Board

Study Mode

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