Cover lesson · Art · Year 10 · Intermediate

Retouched images and self-image

DCF: Citizenship → Identity, image and reputation

Name: Class: Date:

Cover teacher — you need no subject knowledge

Print: this sheet, one per pupil, plus the stimulus sheet “Retouching case files”, one per pair. No computers, no cameras and no phones. Pupils do not photograph, edit or share any images of themselves or anyone else today.

Run: 5 min — read Section 1 of the stimulus sheet aloud · 10 min — Part A, sort the six cases · 12 min — Part B, apply the real rules to three cases · 8 min — Part C, Elizabeth I · 12 min — Part D, identity and reputation · 5 min — read the help box at the bottom of this sheet aloud. Parts A and B have answers on the worked example sheet.

Collect: this sheet. Part D is personal; tell pupils the class teacher will read it and nobody else will.

Well-being — read this before you start: the lesson is about images and rules, not about anyone's body. Do not allow comments on a classmate's appearance, and steer any talk about weight or dieting back to the cases. If a pupil seems upset, or says something that worries you about how they feel about their body or their eating, do not discuss it in front of the class: speak to them quietly at the end, and pass their name to the school's safeguarding lead the same day. Do not promise to keep it secret.

What you are doing

Almost every image you see has been edited. Some edits just fix a photo; some give it a mood; some change the person in it; and some sell you something that does not exist. You are going to sort six cases along that line, test three of them against the real rules in the UK, France and Norway, compare today's filters with a queen's portraits from 400 years ago, and then decide what honest image-making means for you as an artist.

Part A — What was done, and what kind of edit is it?

Use the tool codes T1–T7 from Section 1. Then choose one category: Corrects (fixes the photo, not the person) · Styles (a mood or look everyone can see is deliberate) · Changes the person (their face or body is no longer what the camera saw) · Misleads (makes a claim about a product or a person that is not true).

Case Tools used Category One sentence: why that category and not the one next to it
A
B
C
D
E
F

Part B — Would it pass?

Use Section 3 of the stimulus sheet. For each place, write OK, label needed or likely to be banned, and give the reason in a few words. Be careful: each country's rule covers different things.

Case UK (ASA) France Norway
A
C
D

The influencer in Case C wrote “no filter needed”. If the ASA ruled against the post, what would happen to her reputation, and why would it last longer than the post itself?

Part C — Nothing new?

Read Section 4. Give one way Elizabeth I's “Mask of Youth” is like a beauty filter, and two ways it is different. Think about who controlled the image, why, and whose faces get edited now.

Part D — Your image, your reputation

D1. Look again at Case F. Write what you would actually say to your friend. You are not trying to fix her or comment on her looks; you are trying to be a good friend.

D2. Write your own honest image rule for your Art portfolio: which of the tools T1–T7 would you use on a self-portrait, which would you not, and how would you show the viewer what you changed? Case E may help.

Step by step

  1. 5 min — Read Section 1 of the stimulus sheet. Learn the seven tool codes.
  2. 10 min — Part A: tools and category for all six cases.
  3. 12 min — Part B: read Section 3, then test Cases A, C and D against three countries' rules, and answer the reputation question.
  4. 8 min — Part C: read Section 4 and compare it with filters.
  5. 12 min — Part D: answer D1, then write your honest image rule.
  6. 5 min — Read the help box together.

Success criteria

Help box

If anything in today's lesson has made you worried about how you feel about your body, your eating or your photos, you can talk to someone:

If you finish early