Piet Zwart Institute

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Institute for Postgraduate Studies and Research

Master Education in Arts

Master Education in Arts

Acknowledgement: Master education in Arts, Graduation show 2018.
Image Credit: Michaela Lakova.

Experimental and engaged practices in art and design education
The MEiA programme is called ‘Education in Arts’, but in essence it is multidisciplinary. We pay attention to contemporary developments in art and design education, considering it to be an expanded and interdisciplinary field that also includes socially engaged practices in art. The programme pays attention to education inside schools as well as outside of them; the curriculum is designed for educators in the fields of secondary, vocational and higher arts and design education, educators in museums and community arts, as well as artists and designers with an interest in pedagogical practices. The course prepares graduates to engage with formal educational structures as well as with informal learning environments.

A learning community
Peer learning and being part of a learning community is a key feature of our programme. Our uniquely tailored curriculum combines collective learning with individual tutorials and practice-based research with theoretical inquiry. The seminars are led by a team of tutors who combine their passion for education with professional grounding in the cultural scene. In our current and future society, transgressing boundaries and collaborating is key; therefore, we have founded a learning community in which participants learn from each other, no matter whether they are teaching at a secondary school, working in museum education, engaged in activist workshops or affiliated with a design academy.

Transformative
How can educators help to define the vital role of art and design in society? Our programme explicitly connects theory and practice, focusing on contemporary issues that span different practices and discourses: the artist as educator; critical and feminist pedagogy; interdisciplinarity; decolonialization; embodiment; the ecological crisis; art, science and technology; et cetera. Unlike any other discipline, art education is bound to societal challenges, cultural urgencies and ethical questions. How do these play out on a micro and macro level within pedagogical practices? Participants are encouraged to reflect upon their practice and teaching methodologies from an engaged and critical perspective.

Taking time: deepening and expanding existing practice
We are a part-time programme, designed for students who combine their study with their working practice. The programme has a modular structure of seminars that take place every two weeks on Fridays and Saturdays. During the two-year study, participants develop a research project that deepens their existing educational, artistic practice or opens new directions within it. Our course is a fully English-taught programme and admits students from the Netherlands as well as the EU at large. The programme is structured as a 60-credit part-time course spread over two years. Classes are held every two weeks on Friday and Saturday (in case of core modules the Thursday evening is sometimes added to that to facilitate lectures, et cetera). Upon fulfilling credit requirements, students graduate with a Master of Education (in Art) – M Ed.

we educate – we support – we challenge – we critically reflect – we reinvent

You can download our course profile here.

Our program has been assessed as excellent in 2023. Please read our Self-Evaluation here.

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