Educational objectives and professional fields

Educational Objectives

Based on a critical examination of different dimensions of experience and social power relations, students develop an ethical and political stance in their professional contexts. They take responsibility for their artistic and educational activities and are familiar with social structures and the conditions under which they carry out their work within institutions, organisations and non-formal settings.

In a forward-looking understanding of Art Education, collective learning, participatory project development and organisation, research-based experimentation and the formation of one's own professional practice are understood as central elements of a changing educational landscape.

The programme culminates in the final module with a Master’s project that brings together the various perspectives and activities of the programme, explores the student’s own scope for action, and positions and critically reflects upon their own artistic and educational practice or research.

In the final phase, students may choose between two specialisations:

The Master’s thesis may focus on the conception, implementation and reflection on an artistic-educational practice and is therefore project-based.
The Master’s thesis may focus on a research practice addressing issues in art education from a specific, self-chosen perspective. It is therefore research-based.

In either case, there is a reflection of the interdependency between artistic-educational work and theoretical frameworks.

Degree title

Master of Arts ZHdK in Art Education with a Major in Critical Social Practice in Art Education

Potential areas of employment

Graduates gain the qualifications

in the context of art and cultural education to work as freelance or institutionally employed art and cultural educators, heads of public programs, curators of education, program designers, and - coordinators in the field of cultural education or outreach in or in collaboration with schools, museums, exhibitions, art schools, and other institutions of aesthetic education and outreach.
in the context of independent artistic-educational practice and research to work as artist-educators, studio directors, project initiators, or—within a collective—as (co-)directors of project spaces, as well as authors or editors in transdisciplinary projects.
in the context of sociocultural work and community outreach to work as an artist-educator in community outreach (city/municipality), in community centers and neighborhood associations, as a neighborhood worker (e.g., in cooperatives), as a youth and community worker (e.g., in open youth work), or as an artistic-educational process facilitator in participatory processes (e.g., in urban planning).
in the context of care homes for older people, care services and special educational needs to work in the design and realisation of artistic and educational programmes.
in the context of continuing education and adult education to work as course leaders in creative educational programmes.
in the context of political education and civil society work for roles as a consultant specialising in critical, artistic-educational and political education, or as a facilitator at festivals, within political education organisations, in NGOs or other social infrastructures for further education and outreach.
in the context of academia for artistic and academic positions, as well as artistic or academic doctoral projects in the field of artistic-educational research.