The teacher certification programme in Fine Art Education provides students with fundamental knowledge of current and historic concepts and theories. This allows students to reflect on artistic, design-related, scientific and didactic issues and problems. It also builds skills which help them think and work in an art-pedagogical manner conducive to teaching Fine Art Education. The reflection on subject-specific role expectations encourages students to develop their own professional art-educational concepts. These include gaining artistic and/or design-related expertise and developing a curiosity-driven attitude. The interdisciplinary link between artistic, scientific and art-educational questions and problems defines the overall structure of the programme.

In addition to gaining scientific expertise in the disciplines of History and Theory of Art, Design, Visual Communication, and Arts and Research, the programme also acquaints students with the latest subject-based research in the fields of didactics, methodology and applied development psychology. A significant portion of the programme is devoted to teaching the artistic and design-related fundamentals and their application. One of the main objectives is to demonstrate that developing a professional art-educational self-image is an individual and on-going process. It encourages students to develop their own artistic and design-related forms of expression, to apply various materials and techniques in the faculty’s workshops, and to critically reflect on one’s own artistic and design process and fine-art-educational approach. As part of the subject-related didactic module, students are taught to apply relevant theory to practical application and analysis, to cooperate and innovate.

Students can combine »Fine Art Education (Secondary School) - Double Specialisation« with all other Gymnasium-level teacher certification courses offered at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. The cooperation with the University of Jena, however, makes commuting back and forth between Weimar and Jena necessary.

Fine Art Education can also be studied as a »Single Specialisation«, in which case students are only required to take Educational Science courses in Jena instead of a second teaching subject.

To gain admission to this teacher certification programme, students must pass an aptitude test, demonstrating particular artistic and/or design-related competence. Candidates who wish to commence their studies in the winter semester, are required to register for the aptitude test at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar by 31 March.

The standard period of study for Gymnasium-level Teacher Certification in Fine Art Education is ten semesters which includes two semesters of examinations and one practical semester. Students are expected to complete all course work within the first nine semesters. Because of the intensive workload, we recommend that students complete one project module or two subject-specific modules per semester. All examinations are administered throughout the certification programme.

The programme commences in the winter semester of each academic year and concludes with the First State Examination for Gymnasium-level teacher certification in »Fine Art Education Double Specialisation« or »Fine Art Education Single Specialisation«. Both degrees qualify the candidate for the preparatory phase and eventual employment as an art teacher at a Gymnasium (Secondary School) or Gemeinschaftsschule (comprehensive school). Graduates are also qualified for related positions at extramural and museum-educational institutions. The successful completion of this programme is a prerequisite for earning a doctorate in the area of Art Didactics or participating in a PhD programme at the Faculty of Art and Design.

The career prospects for teachers are relatively favourable at the moment, though there are differences depending on the type of school and subject of instruction. Thuringian certification in Gymnasium-level Fine Art Education Double Specialisation is recognised in all other federal states in Germany, while certification in Fine Art Education Single Specialisation is only recognised in Thuringia, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin. To improve one’s chances of employment, we recommend that students in »Fine Art Education Single Specialisation« take up a supplementary subject.

Candidates should be open to embracing experimental forms of art-design instruction and be willing to reflectively examine their own working process. Students are expected to demonstrate competence in school educational practice and knowledge of current developments in the art field. Creativity, independence, verbal competence and flexibility are essential for successfully completing the programme. To meet these academic requirements, candidates are expected to develop their own artistic identity and art-pedagogical working method. Studying at two different locations requires a high degree of organisational skill, both in terms of drawing up timetables and the willingness to combine acquired expertise and skills in an interdisciplinary fashion.

The teacher certification programmes in Fine Art Education (Secondary School) Double and Single Specialisation are only offered in German.

The application for all degree programmes of the Faculty of Art and Design at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is exclusively conducted digitally via the Bauhaus.CampusPortal. Please register for the aptitude test – new from 1 February – by 28 February at the best. The homework will be published at the beginning of March. Please upload your application, including all required documents and the completed homework assignment, by 31 March.

The selection of the students of the degree programme Fine Art Education (Secondary School) – Double and Single Specialisation is based on a three-step aptitude test:

1. Registration for participation in the aptitude test via our Bauhaus.CampusPortal. 
2. Upload of the homework solution, a letter of motivation, your curriculum vitae with details of your education, previous knowledge if applicable and the most recently obtained school certificate as proof of the general higher education entrance qualification, your portfolio with up to 20 of your own artistic and/or design work samples.
3. Personal interview and presentation of up to 20 original artistic/design work samples.

The aptitude test committee of the degree programme makes a preselection after reviewing the solution of the homework and the submitted work samples. Those who make it to the shortlist will be invited to the further aptitude test and take part in a personal interview, to which please bring the original work from your digital application. Further details on the aptitude test are regulated by the aptitude test regulations (Accessible document) (only available in German language).

If you have passed the aptitude test and are enrolling at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, please apply for parallel studies for the compulsory accompanying study programme in Educational Science at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. Further information can be found here: https://www.uni-jena.de/en/620/applying-for-parallel-studies  

Language requirements:
Please note that passing the aptitude test does not mean automatic admission to the degree programme. Please submit a current proof of language proficiency with your application documents, which shows that you will reach the required language level by the time of your matriculation at the latest.
Lessons are taught in German. You must provide proof of German language proficiency. Prerequisite for International Students are German language skills at the level C 1 (DSH-2 or TestDAF TDN 4). If you have any questions relating to certification, please contact the colleagues at the Office of Student and Academic Affairs: studium[at]uni-weimar.de  

For further information please visit the website of the Language Centre.