Art Teacher: Job Profile and Role

Have you always been fascinated by art in its myriad forms? Or are you a passionate artist who loves nothing more than to spend all day in front of an easel, for example? And combined with that passion, do you also enjoy working with children and people in general? If the answer to these questions is “Yes!”, we may have the perfect job for you: the job of an art teacher.

To help you decide if this job might be the perfect fit for you, we will explore this job in detail in the following blog. We take a look at the required skills and qualifications and give you tips for thriving as an art teacher. We also tell you which salaries to expect in different types of art teacher jobs. Our insights into a day in the life of an art teacher might help you further to decide whether the job of an art teacher is your future dream job.

Short Summary

• As an art teacher, one of your responsibilities is to plan a curriculum which details which topics and techniques you want to cover with your students in the respective term.
• As an art teacher, you are in charge of the artistic education of your students. You are also in charge of helping them discover their potential as well as showing them how art can help them to express themselves.
• As an art teacher, you teach both practical and theoretical art knowledge. This way, your students not only learn how to use different painting, photography or other artistic techniques. They also gain an understanding of how these techniques have evolved over the centuries.

Job description

An art teacher is responsible for seeing his or her students’ creative potential. It is therefore an art teacher’s responsibility to nurture this potential and to show a student how it can help him or her to express himself or herself. An art teacher needs to have an in-depth knowledge of both the theoretical and practical knowledge related to art. An art teacher needs to be familiar with the various tools used in art lessons which include both traditional art supplies and digital tools. An art teacher is also required to communicate with different people, ranging from the students to their parents and an art teacher’s head of school and other institutions.

Responsibilities

• Cultural/Community Engagement
• Materials/Supplies Management
• Assessment and Grading
• Curriculum Development
• Classroom Management
• Individualised Instruction
• Special Needs Support
• Critique and Feedback
• Exhibition and Display
• Art History/Theory

Different types of Art Teachers

• Further Education Art Lecturer
• Primary School Art Teacher
• University Art Lecturer
• Online Art Instructor
• Art Therapist

Salary

As an art teacher in the UK, you can expect salaries varying between £34,800 and £43,000 per year. The annual salary is affected by various factors, the type of art teacher being one of them. If you want to become an art therapist, for example, your annual salary will start at £29,000. Art professors, on the other hand, can earn considerably more. The annual salary can start at around £70,000. Further salary-influencing factors are the location and the employer of an art teacher.

Working hours

Art teachers who work at a school typically work from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. These “office hours”, however, only make up one part of an art teacher’s weekly working hours. In this profession, you should add several hours for lesson preparation, lesson follow-ups, marking, and teacher-parent meetings. The average 35 hours a week can easily amount to 45 hours or more. Extracurricular activities can also increase the working hours, albeit not every week.

Note that other art teacher careers may have different weekly working hours that are furthermore affected by different factors. We recommend that you check both working hours and factors with your future employer.

Employers

Employers of art teachers can be found in a multitude of sectors. As an art teacher, you can find employment at a primary or secondary school as well as at a university. This naturally depends on your specialisation and – to a certain extent – on your educational background and degrees. As an art teacher, you can also explore the possibility of working at a museum, for example, as an art therapist. As an art historian, you may want to consider working at a heritage site.

Qualifications

Typically, art teachers approach their future careers by earning an academic degree. Appropriate fields of study can be art, art history, design, and pedagogy. Note that the latter is not offered at every UK university. To become an art teacher, you will also need a SCQF level 9/10 (Professional Graduate Diploma in Education) in Art or Art & Design.

Skills

It goes without saying that one of the most important skills of an art teacher is creativity. Having an imaginative and creative mind is one of the key factors to being an outstanding art teacher. Technical knowledge of the different art materials and theoretical knowledge of art history are two more skills an art teacher should have.

What else is needed to be an excellent art teacher? Let’s take a look at three more skills that help you excel in your job as an art teacher.

Organisational Skills

As an art teacher, you are in charge of planning and developing curricula for a half-term or whole school term. As an art teacher, you are also in charge of planning individual lessons and art projects. Furthermore, you will spend a considerable amount of time on post-preparation of the respective lessons and marking artwork, tests, and exam papers. Strong organisation skills are a must if you want to stay on top of this task mountain.

Communication Skills

As an art teacher, you will communicate daily. You will talk to your students when teaching them about art history or the projects you have set for your students. You will also speak to the head of the school or the head of the department as well as the students’ parents. Strong communication skills are another must-have when you want to excel in your job as an art teacher.

Conflict-Resolution Skills

Art is a subject that almost screams for different opinions and views. After all, what exactly is art and what does not qualify as art? How do you decide whether a student’s artwork is art or the opposite? Questions like these easily lead to conflicts and discussions. Therefore, as an art teacher, you need to have strong conflict-resolution skills.

Interesting Extracurricular Activities

Teaching art in its various forms and making art has multiple benefits, both for the art teacher and for the students. As an art teacher, you can choose a topic for an exhibition, for example. Together with your students, you can then create the artwork and organise a time and a place for an exhibition. This way, your students have the great option of showcasing their talents to both their parents and a wider audience.

Career Path

Your career path as an art teacher can take different directions. You may decide that you are happiest as a primary or secondary school art teacher. Likewise, you may decide that a university career is a better fit for you. Or you may think about becoming an art therapist, either working in a health facility or in a museum to help both children and adults with special needs, for example. You see – being an art teacher is as diverse as the field of art itself.

Educational Background

Your educational background as an art teacher can include different approaches. You can become an art teacher by earning an appropriate academic degree, for example, a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s degree or a PhD. Note that the latter will set you up for a university career as an art lecturer or professor. You can also become an art teacher by completing an undergraduate degree, for example, in Fine Arts or Art Education. This educational approach usually takes three years to complete.

Training

With your chosen educational background, you should explore further options that make up your training as an art teacher. You should look into a postgraduate certification, such as obtaining the Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). You can achieve this status by doing a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education). If you want to work as a school art teacher, you should also look into practical training in a school. Here, you are usually mentored by an art teacher.

Continuous Learning

Continuous learning is an important part of an art teacher’s job profile. This can include various topics, such as new teaching methods and new approaches to different areas of art. You should also always strive to improve your theoretical art knowledge. Moreover, you should also not shy away from digital tools that are used in art on a more regular basis.

A Day in the Life of an Art Teacher

Planning a curriculum and deciding which art-related topics you want to teach and which techniques your students are to learn are some of the things that shape your working life as an art teacher. These tasks do not take place daily but are usually part of long-term planning for a school term. So, what exactly does a day in the life of an art teacher look like? This is what we will look at in this section.

Setting up the Classroom

Before your students can start their art projects, you need to set up the classroom. This includes getting the needed materials out of the storage room and setting these out either on your or the students’ desks. The setting up of the classroom also includes safety measures. As an art teacher, you need to make sure that the needed materials are safe to use. You will also have to instruct your students in the relevant safety rules and hand out gloves or other safety things, if necessary.

Classroom Clean-Up

Art tends to be messy in its process and progress. And we are pretty sure that there is no such thing as a clean and flawless art classroom. Therefore, your day as an art teacher involves the classroom clean-up after your students are done for the day. Ideally, you clean up together with your students since this imparts the importance of treating their materials and the art environment with respect. The classroom clean-up also prepares you for your next lesson.

Meetings

As an art teacher, you are required to participate in meetings. These can range from teacher conferences to meetings with the head of school and parent-teacher meetings. They may not be the most riveting of tasks an art teacher has to perform. Nonetheless, they are important. They give you and the other participants the chance to discuss the students’ progress and ideas for new and exciting art projects that are not necessarily limited to the classroom.

Tips for Thriving as an Art Teacher

You have already taken on board all our information on how to become an art teacher? But you are missing some tips for thriving in this position? Do not worry – that is what the following section is for. Here, we explore three valuable tips that help you thrive as an art teacher:

• Foster creativity in your students
• Balanced criticism and praise
• Plan engaging lessons

Foster Creativity in your Students

Art may be one of the most creative subjects you can teach but it can also be one of the most thankless ones. Imagine you have several students who think they are completely useless with a pencil, a paintbrush, or a camera. While this may be true, you should still try to foster their creativity. Maybe they have other artistic talents that are just well hidden? If you want to thrive as an art teacher, you should always take the time to find these talents and foster this particular creativity in your students.

Balanced Criticism and Praise

Our second tip for thriving as an art teacher goes hand in hand with tip number one. Regardless of a student’s talents, you should always be mindful of the way you address the student. Yes, sometimes the artwork might leave definite room for improvement, whereas at other times, your student’s artwork might rival that of Michelangelo or Picasso. To a good art teacher, neither scenario should make a huge difference. Yes, you should both criticise and praise. But: you should always find the right balance for both.

Plan Engaging Lessons

Several things fascinate most people about art. It tends to be colourful, it more often than not tells a story, and it is a great way to express yourself. Also, art can be interpreted according to the person viewing it. All these things are ingredients for our third tip with which you will thrive as an art teacher: the planning of engaging lessons. You have a whole universe of artistic tools, methods, and inspiration at your disposal. You also have your students’ creative minds. Use these things and come up with lessons that will swipe your class off its feet.

Frequently Asked Questions