The course enables students to combine an MA in Fine Art or Art and Design with an MA in Art Education. Taught alongside students from both courses and giving you access to the full technical and workshop facilities available at the School of Art, the MA Arts Practice and Education gives you the best of both worlds. We believe that some of the most exciting art teaching happens at the intersection between the artist/teacher/educator role and that connecting with creative practice is a legitimate form of professional development. If you work, or intend to work, in contexts where the concerns of art and education are important then this course is relevant to you and will provide a supportive and challenging environment in which to critically examine the interconnections of art and art education.

Birmingham School of Art, Margaret Street has been offering Masters level courses in art and education for thirty years and has been involved in training art educators for over a century. The Grade 1 listed building was one of the first purpose-built Art Schools in the country and having been sympathetically renovated in the 1990's it continues to be an inspiring environment. We are proud of our heritage and the huge resource that we have at Margaret Street. It is a privilege to work and study in such beautiful surroundings. A visit to see our facilities is highly recommended.

We have high expectations of our students and therefore all practice sessions are taught and assessed jointly with the MA Fine Art. This is not an education course with some art-making added on, art practice is at the centre of what we do and the lens we use to examine past and contemporary trends in art education. We understand that many art educators find it difficult to actively participate in creative practice alongside their busy work and family lives and we are eager to support individuals who wish to re-engage. To discuss the ethos and demands of the course further please contact Carol.Wild@bcu.ac.uk

“The benefits of becoming part of a creative community outside the school challenged my thinking about my role as an artist and educator. I found the entire experience fulfilling personally and professionally. Becoming engaged in making my own art work again; thinking and contextualising my work as an artist has encouraged me to extend this into the classroom and challenge my students to do the same”.
Claire Thomas MA Art Practice and Education 2009/10 - has since become Head of Art, Belgrave High School, Tamworth

Art-Based Masters Brochure

Further Studies

For further information on courses Tel: +44(0)121 331 5595 or go direct to the courses section of the website.

Modules

We offer a practice-led, seminar and research based course which has core and optional modules. The optional modules are shared with other courses in the Arts-based Master’s Programme. The core modules will enable you to develop your individual art practice and reflect critically on the histories of art and design education and current issues in art education. This will enable you to relate and reinvigorate both your art and education practice within your own particular educational context.

Both taught core and option modules are delivered in the evenings across the week in both the postgraduate certificate and postgraduate diploma stages. The core modules will provide you with different frameworks through which you can critically examine the interconnections of art and art education and engage in contemporary intellectual debates within an interdisciplinary context. You will have the opportunity to both enhance your existing skills and acquire new skills throughout the course.

The course is defined through a number of disciplines: painting, installation, performance, photography, print, site specific work, and video in which interdisciplinary approaches to practice are actively encouraged. You will be expected to complete an extended essay on education and have the opportunity to choose from a range of module options. As a full-time student you will be allocated a studio or workspace, while as a part-time student you will be expected to have your own studio or workspace. The final Master’s submission consists of a final exhibition open to the public and a short paper on the relationship of your art practice to contemporary education practice. The course also offers a studio based seminar programme shared with the Fine Art Master’s course, which is structured to enhance your particular interests in relation to contemporary issues of art theory and context. These seminars are conducted by notable visiting lecturers, artists, critics and staff and aim to explore a set of problems and polemics current in art.

The course is for teachers who want to reengage with contemporary issues in fine art and also for those practitioners and educators who have equivalent experience or ambitions to further their work outside the state education system, in galleries, community and contextual arts or in residencies where educational insights are important. You will be encouraged to publish, and will receive the basis of, an education appropriate and relevant to subsequent higher or research degrees, professional practice as an artist and/or teacher or other career sequels.

Shared Option Modules (15 credits)

Term 1:

Advanced Practice

Art in the Public Realm

Arts Policy and Cultural Planning

Discourses in Art and Design

Perspectives on Art as a Global Human Experience

Subjectivity, Arts and Culture

Term 2:

Art and New Media

Models and Methods of Curatorial Practice

Mythologies of Madness

Photography as Research

Project Planning

Queer Strategies in Practice

Small Arts Business Set Up

Unconscious to Conscious Theories

Entry Requirements

• Normally a first degree or its equivalent in an appropriate subject, and/or previous or concurrent experience in the arts and/or education.
• We also welcome applications from those mature applicants who may not satisfy the normal entry requirements.

Application Details

Please apply direct to BIAD Admissions. For more information, or an application form, please contact the Admissions office:  Tel: 0121 331 5150. Email: biad.admissions@bcu.ac.uk

Fees Notes

For information on fees please contact BIAD Admissions: Tel: +44 (0)121 331 5150. Email: biad.admissions@bcu.ac.uk

Enquiries

For information on the course or to discuss your application please contact Carol Wild (MA Arts Practice and Education Course Director) directly:
Tel: +44 (0)121 331 5970
Email: carol.wild@bcu.ac.uk