A three weeks educational programme for art teachers, art students who want to become teachers, and artists who enter the teaching profession.

What does it mean to be an Art teacher? What is the difference between an art teacher and a teacher of other subject matters?

The art teacher needs to be able to sustain students in the development of their own personal work. This work is, by nature, individual, intimate and emotional. For this reason, the art teacher needs to be sensitive to what is happening, not only in the classroom, but, more specifically, within each student. This requires dedication, attention, respect and also the knowledge to deal with issues pertaining to pedagogy, adult education, coaching, amongst others.

The Teacher Training Course is a fifteen days intensive programme that reviews the platform from which we teach. It presents an opportunity to re-calibrate our position as art teachers, to ask fundamental questions about one's role in the field of the arts, and to promote a safe and sound environment for art students.
Unique in terms of its academic contents, in terms of depth of training, and in terms of how it is taught, it provides a stimulating mix of group activities, focused practical work, critical dialogue and engaging presentations. This course provides a set of skills: technical, intellectual, emotional, ethical, to be employed simultaneously at any moment in the classroom.

The Art Teacher Training Course was meticulously designed to provide the most comprehensive art teacher training available.

CONCEPTS

Teaching - A theoretical investigation on teaching methods, procedures and interpretations. The theory of Batesonian Logical Levels as a tool for organizing thought. Epistemology.

Language - Language skills for precise communication and to help students identify unconscious behaviours and mechanisms. Teaching as storytelling. The use of metaphor to convey ideas and concepts that cannot be explained through logic alone. The use of lateral thinking for work advancement and problem solving.

Presentation - Enhancing performance in front of a group. Thespian talent development. Addressing people from culturally diverse backgrounds.

Structure - Designing successful lessons and courses for maximum impact and learning.

Dynamics - How groups form, develop and behave. Utilizing the group's and the individual's qualities for better teaching leverage. Becoming more aware of what happens inside the classroom to, successfully, deal with unexpected or troublesome situations.

Preparation - How to be in the right "teaching state" for optimal performance, keeping focus and alertness at a constant level. Teacher well being and personal privacy.

Humour - The missing link in education. The uses of meaningful reframing.

The Arts in education - Art as a Language in its own terms. Can we really teach someone to become an artist? If so, how is the best, most respectful, healthier way to do it? What is the importance of teaching the arts? The power of the arts in the public sphere and how to maximise the strength of students' work for social change.

Endorsement - Effectively supporting the students' ongoing work. Engaging students in autonomous, critical thinking and action. Freeing students' self-expression. Ethics and personal limits. How to help students develop a personal and individual style that is unique and congruent. Introduction to one-on-one tutorials

Critique - How to respectfully give feedback on student's work. The use of the right language to do so. Observing student's unconscious reactions to feedback and how to use it to forward the student's development.