Established in 1914, the Estonian Academy of Arts is the only public university in Estonia providing higher education in fine arts, design, architecture, media, visual studies, art culture, and conservation. The EAA is striving to become a leading international centre of innovation in the field of visual culture. Currently there are about 1300 students enrolled in the Academy.
Eksperimenta! collaborates with the Art Education Department of Estonian Academy of Arts.
The Art Teacher Training curriculum of the Estonian Academy of Arts (EAA) follows the principle widely used in basic teacher training all over the world of linking general pedagogical subjects closely to the didactic methods of the subject that graduates are to teach and teaching practice. The studies have been modified to conform to the latest research-based theories in pedagogy and psychology and trends in contemporary art.
The curriculum contains a general module and teacher training subjects.
The general module comprises the core subjects of the EAA that aim to provide a general theoretical and methodological background in the humanities and art and present the most important issues and research trends in contemporary philosophy and the theory of art, design and architecture. The subjects of the general module are studied during the first two semesters of the curriculum.
The teacher training subjects are divided into theoretical subjects and teaching practice and are distributed between the four semesters. Each semester focuses on a context subject, which allows students to base their theoretical studies and teaching practice on one broader pedagogy or psychology subject. The context subjects are divided as follows: Educational Science and Philosophy in the first semester, Developmental and Pedagogical Psychology in the second semester, and Psychology of Creativity in the third semester. The context of the whole fourth semester is work on the Master’s thesis.
Teaching practice is divided into three stages – comprehensive school, art school and museum teaching practice – to allow students to experience real-life planning, management and analysis of the learning process in various types of educational institution. The theoretical subjects and the three practice stages are interconnected to foster the development of a research-based understanding of various approaches to the didactic methods of art and their effect on practical art teaching.
Students are free to choose a total of 15 ECP [European credit points] worth of optional subjects to cater for their individual academic needs and particularly to enhance their expertise in art. We also support and promote academic mobility between Estonian universities and internationally.
The Department of Art Pedagogy of the EAA works closely with the Institute of Educational Sciences of Tallinn University, the Art Museum of Estonia and the Eduko programme for the promotion of pedagogy and teacher training.
Contact information
Address: Suur-Kloostri 11a, room 305, Tallinn, 10133 Estonia
Telephone: +372 611 7657
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://vana.artun.ee/index.php?lang=eng&main_id=672