Arts and Design Education MA, Teaching Diploma for Secondary Schools

The master’s degree in Arts and Design Education, Teaching Diploma for Secondary Schools is offered in collaboration with the FHNW School of Education. The Institute of Arts and Design Education (IADE) at the FHNW HGK Basel offers training in a transdisciplinary and multifaceted context, which closely links technical knowledge creation with aesthetic and practical research. A central component of the programme takes the form of individual artistic and design-related projects as well as aesthetic-research projects, which are supported by colloquia and mentorships. At the same time, you will expand your knowledge of art, culture and design teaching in seminars. You will also deepen your art pedagogical skills in a collaborative and transdisciplinary way in cross-regional network modules as well as practical and research-oriented modules. The course components of the FHNW School of Education prepare you to develop artistic and design-related content in an educational science-based and didactically competent manner and to successfully teach it in school placements.
The comprehensive MA in Teaching in Art and Design prepares you optimally for employment in schools, museums, sociocultural settings and research – with a deep understanding of the connection between the theoretical and practical fields of the subject area.

In your studies at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW you enhance and enlarge upon your scientific, artistic and design-related skills and inquire into art and design education as well as artistic research.

In your studies at the FHNW School of Education you learn how to prepare and present artistic and design-related contents on a sound scholarly basis. The skills and knowledge acquired so far flow into self-devised art, design and cultural education projects. In addition you get the chance to expand and elaborate on your acquired skills and knowledge in colloquia and seminars and investigate further aspects of art education and outreach in the context of international block courses and term papers.

The study programme takes place at both the HGK Basel and the FHNW School of Education. At the HGK Basel, students attend lectures in all semesters from the following module groups: ‘Studio, Research and Teaching’, ‘Discourse, Art and Cultural Studies’ and ‘Artistic Methods & Aesthetic Approaches’.
At the FHNW School of Education, you participate in the following modules: Education Studies, Teaching Methods and Vocational Studies.

In the first three semesters, you build your knowledge of art, cultural and education studies, expand your artistic, design and teaching skills, and learn to treat current aesthetic and research approaches and discourses in a professional manner. The main focus of the 4th semester is on developing and completing your master’s thesis at the HGK Basel.

Master’s thesis
You define the subject area and methods of your thesis as an independent, research-oriented project. In principle, the thesis project consists of both artistic and creative, discursive and context-driven as well as teaching-oriented parts that can be combined with one another in different ways. The thesis provides you with a space for dealing with your aesthetic actions and thoughts through research, and for finding your own position in the context of professional discourses, artistic design and education

The master’s study programme is intended for students who are enthusiastic about teaching in the field of art, design and aesthetic research, and who want to link discursive, artistic and pedagogical practices. A successfully completed bachelor’s degree in the area of Arts Education is the prerequisite for being accepted to the study programme. The master’s degree qualifies you to teach at the upper secondary level, in art and cultural institutions as well as to conduct research-oriented advanced qualification work in the field of art, design and education.

Having completed your MA course you have the ability to sensitise and motivate learners and the competence to perceive, reflect and act with regard to visual culture as well as in respect to your students and teaching. Based on your own creative work and ongoing engagement with professional theory and practice in the given social context, you are in a position to provide innovative teaching and learning opportunities. You provide guidance in the processes of visual perception, aesthetic analysis and judgement and thus enhance the learners’ visual literacy.

The master’s study programme sharpens students’ ability to sensitise learners to aesthetic issues and motivate them to engage in artistic and creative processes. You have solid perceptual, action and reflection skills grounded in current research discourses on aesthetic cultures as well as learning situations and lesson planning. On the basis of your own artistic and creative work and a critical and reflective examination of professional theory and practice, you will be able to structure well-founded and creative lessons. You initiate and promote processes of aesthetic perception and analysis, and in doing so improve your ability to talk about artistic and creative matters. 

As a graduate of the master’s programme, you will prove yourself as a teacher in various schools and as educators in art and cultural institutions outside of the school system. The study programme also qualifies you for advanced research-oriented work at an art or other university or educational institution. 

With its studios, labs and centrally located on-campus workshops, the HGK Basel provides ideal conditions for combining a curiosity for craftsmanship, the acquisition of new techniques and digital know-how. What’s more, all students have their own work station in the spacious studios, which are open 24/7.

In the institute’s own Learning Lab Arts and Design, creative processes and the design of experiential and cognitive spaces are explored, documented and researched in digital and analogue formats in workshops and seminars. Students have access to the facilities 365 days a year.

Academical qualifications
Admission to the aptitude assessment normally requires one of the following qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree in Arts and Design Education.
• Any other Bachelor’s degree aimed at teaching at upper secondary school level (baccalaureate) or at an occupation in the field of Arts and Design Education.

Language of tuition
The language of tuition is German (C2 level or equivalent).

If you have any questions about whether your previous studies will be recognized, please send your CV and a copy of your BA degree certificate before you start your online application and before February 10, 2025 to info.iade.hgk@fhnw.ch

To apply for a place at the HGK Basel, the required documents must be submitted by deadline 15.03.2025.
Please send specific degree programme to email address.

• 01.11.2024
  Publication of the detailed information on the aptitude assessment
• 15.03.2025
  Registration deadline and upload deadline for all required documents via the application portal.
• The placement for «Berufseignungsabklärung PH FHNW» is needed.
  More information: www.fhnw.ch/studium/paedagogik/berufseignungsabklaerung
  
• 15.09.2025
  Fall Semester begin 2025/26

Here you will find answers to FAQs about preparing and registering for a Bachelor’s (BA) or a Master’s (MA) degree programme at the HGK Basel FHNW.

Here you will find answers to organizational, administrative and legal questions all about studying -->

With the beginning of the fall semester 2025, the career aptitude assessment (Berufseignungsabklärung) will no longer take place as an assessment before the start of the study-programm, but will be integrated directly into the study-programm. You will be informed about the next steps directly through the PH (Pädagogische Hochschule) during the course of study.