Training for Teaching Art at Primary Schools

To be admitted to the study programme, candidates are required to pass an entrance examination.

In primary school teacher training, you study art as your third or fourth subject.

The study programme is module-based. Modules usually comprise several classes in each of which credits need to be achieved if they are to count towards the module.

Syllabus

The study programme is divided into two phases:

  • The 2-semester foundation studies and
  • the 4-semester main studies.

It is sub-divided into three major areas, which are integrated and studied in parallel:

  • Aesthetic practice: artistic work in the studios and creative/technological training in the study workshops
  • Subject content studies: art history/theory/psychology/sociology/philosophy
  • Subject didactics: history and theory of art tuition, methods of artistic and creative working, methods of conveying art and everyday culture in teaching.

Foundation Studies

Foundation studies take place in the 1st and 2nd semester, either together with students from the other teacher training programmes and Fine Arts in the foundation class or in a class provided specifically for them. Students conclude the foundation studies programme by giving a presentation of one of their own artistic works. Over and beyond work in the foundation class, two classes in subject didactics and subject content studies are compulsory, as are two introductory courses in the workshops and one field trip.

Main Studies

In the main studies (3rd to 6th semester), you are individually responsible for compiling your programme in line with the nature of the subject by selecting classes in all three subject areas from the available study contents (in accordance with the academic regulations) and determining selection, weighting and sequence in accordance with aspects related to school form. Aesthetic practice takes place in integrated classes on subject didactics and in the study workshops or studios.

The aim of the main studies is likewise to develop creative didactic possibilities and decisions that relate to the development of primary school children's aesthetic experiences from the students' capacity for their own artistic activity.

Artistic activity thus affects and extends students' own aesthetic experience and also trains the development of creative processes for teaching. Subject expertise is therefore applied to students' own artistic practice as well as to mediation processes.