Study
StudyDuring the Fine Art and Design in Education course, you will learn everything you need to be an innovative and professional art teacher or to work with the public in museums or other arts institutions in an engaging way. You will develop your own artistic talents and help others experience the meaning of art, design and creating for themselves.
Give the course the colour and shape you choose
On the Fine Art and Design in Education course, you will develop both your artistic and educational sides. There is plenty of scope to develop your talents in both autonomous art and design in order to develop as a visual artist or designer. As an artist educator – see also the heading ‘Artist educator’ – you will also be challenged to consciously pursue that relationship, and to seek answers to the questions: what does visual work mean for my teaching? And, what does teaching mean for my visual work?
Read, look, digest, frustrate, whatever, but make! Make! Make! And keep going!
Fine art, design and education
Central to the course is the development of both your artistic and your educational talents. In the programme you will follow, there is plenty of space for visual subjects, from design to autonomous art, but there is also a strong focus on preparing you to be a teacher, with both theory subjects and internships in practice, for example at secondary schools or in secondary vocational education.
The Fine Art and Design in Education course offers you a rich, inspiring and in-depth programme in which you will learn everything you need to start work as a professional in art education. However, there is no fixed template for a passionate art teacher. How you shape your role as an art teacher is an important question, one you will gradually be able to answer better as the course progresses.
Artist Educator
On this course, the above domains do not stand in isolation. Your development as a visual artist and designer always stand in relation to the effect you want to achieve in others – whether they are pupils, participants in projects, visitors to exhibitions or fellow artists.
In order to underline how important we consider this relationship, on the course we use the term “Artist Educator”. In that term, “The Artist” and “The Educator” are inextricably linked. In our view, your teaching is shaped by your artistry. And conversely, who you are as an artist is determined by your quality in working with people.
In the course, we offer you a lot of space to explore ideas about art education and choose your own direction. Gradually, you will develop your own opinion on the question: what kind of Artist Educator do I want to be?
Course structure
You don't become a good art teacher in one day. It takes time, courage and perseverance, but it is very rewarding.
Internships
Every year you will do an internship. Internship experiences are an important part of your professional training. During an internship, all the skills from the professional profile come together and the knowledge you acquire during the course falls into place: you get the opportunity to actually apply what you have learned. You will discover which work setting suits you and which target groups you want to work with. You will also work out what kind of artist educator you want to be and what your own views are on education and art education.
In years two and three, you will do an internship at a secondary school. You will investigate whether education is for you and practise teaching under supervision.
I suddenly realised during the internship that my views on mainstream education have become more nuanced. I could also see how much effort the teachers put in to provide good education.
In year three, you can choose for yourself whether you want to do an internship in a school or elsewhere. School internships range from primary and general secondary education to secondary vocational education (MBO); settings for non-school internships include museums, festivals, publishers and arts centres. As a course, we have extensive contacts with the professional field and are therefore able to offer good internships.
In year three you will also do an interdisciplinary internship, working with students from the Theatre and Dance in Education courses.
I'm becoming more and more confident in front of a class. Whereas in the beginning it still felt a bit like a presentation, now it really is a proper lesson. I feel myself taking on the role of the teacher more and more. I help the pupils to become independent. If they have a question, I will answer them with another question to encourage them to come up with an answer themselves rather than me telling them straight away.
Projects
Each year, we organise projects in which you work on a theme for an extended period (often 2 or 3 weeks). Projects may take place within your own course or jointly with the Theatre and Dance in Education courses. Examples are Remix Reality and Hidden Histories. The course guide contains all the information about the projects that will be run this academic year.
Activities outside the curriculum
The Fine Art and Design in Education course offers room to undertake all kinds of other activities in addition to the 'regular' parts of the course, organised by the course and the students themselves. For example, excursions, lectures, debates, professional symposia, exhibitions, a fair like Unfair and learning to write for the DBKV-Magazine. These activities are not about gaining credits. The focus is on responding to current events, taking the initiative, broadening your perspective and presenting yourself to the outside world.
Art teaches you to look at reality from multiple perspectives; art opens up a whole range of possibilities.
Academic career counselling
Thanks to an extensive range of options in the middle phase and the freedom you are given in the final phase, as a Fine Art and Design in Education student you can define your own path during your course. This means you get to shape your own course and develop your own specialism. Our academic career counsellors and lecturers will help you meet the challenges you face along the way. Your academic career counsellor will support you in maintaining the required progress in your studies and prepare you for your future career. He or she is your first point of contact when you come up against issues. If you encounter personal problems, your academic career counsellor will discuss with you the possibility of referring you to a student counsellor.
Facilities
The academy has well-equipped workshops. There are workshop assistants in all the workshops.
Working for yourself?
As an artist educator, you need an entrepreneurial attitude: the ability to take initiative, see opportunities and seize them. You will work on that throughout your course. If you choose to go self-employed after graduation, you will also need basic knowledge about entrepreneurship. This will be provided during the Art Economy workshops in the fourth year of the Fine Art and Design in Education course.