The School of Education in NCAD operates on the principle that art teacher education is not centrally concerned with the ‘teaching of art’ or ‘teaching about art’ but rather is expressly committed to teaching ‘through art’ (PME Course Document, 2019). We are in the midst of curricular change at second level in Ireland. We in the School of Education ask the question whether art education can sustain its commitment to art as a vehicle for transformation, social justice and citizenship in this global world?
Graduates from the School of Education in NCAD are qualified to work as artists, as designers and as educators. When they leave NCAD, our graduates find work in Ireland and across the world in a whole range of different settings – from schools and colleges to communities, museums and educational settings. The quality of our teachers is recognised by recruitment offers which come from as far as Sweden, UK, Germany, Spain and further afield in Dubai and China.
The School of Education in NCAD has the distinction of being the only art college in Ireland offering a range of teaching qualifications across undergraduate and postgraduate levels. At undergraduate level, we offer a professional teaching qualification to graduates of the BA (Joint Hons) in Design or Fine Art & Education. At post graduate level we offer a two-year Professional Master of Education (PME) in Art and Design alongside the MA in Socially Engaged Art & Further Education (MA SEA+FE). The MA SEA+FE programme (in the process of changing), provides a qualification to teach in the further education sector. Our courses in Continuing Education in Art and Design (CEAD) provide a wide range of art and design opportunities to evening students across all disciplines.
The Teaching Council of Ireland recognises these programmes as providing a professional qualification to teach art and design at second level and further education. The distinctive feature of our initial teacher education (ITE) programmes is the integration of art and design into pedagogy and practice. This model of art teacher education draws on critical and contextual pedagogies, which have the capacity to transform through engagement with others. It is a model of art education which extends beyond the self, into an awareness of and empathy with others.
We look forward to seeing the graduates of 2019 become the influencers of future artists, designers and educators and become the makers of change across the fields of education, art and design. We particularly look forward to following their progress as they make their impact across the world.
