The Master of Art Education is a low residency MS/MPhil level graduate studies programme especially designed for education professionals and in-service teachers. It addresses teachers, administrators and educators in art, design and related disciplines in schools, higher education, and informal education settings who wish to pursue a
Master’s degree while maintaining their regular (full-time) jobs.
The Master’s programme is conducted over 2.5 Years (3 Summer Semesters on campus + 1 Spring Semester + 2 Fall Semesters). It offers a challenging intensive short duration residency programme combined with off-campus fieldwork in both teaching and research during the Fall and Spring semesters, thus allowing students to maintain their full-time jobs.
The programme is designed around a core of courses in educational theory, which are closely integrated with professional practice in teaching and studio art. Both coursework and instruction in this programme are experientially focused to determine students’ future pathways in teaching or related practices in education.
Beyond this core, students have the flexibility to design individual research projects and fieldwork under expert faculty guidance and mentorship. The areas of concern for these projects emerge from their educational experiences and teaching contexts.
Program Overview
Specialization/Areas: Creative & Cultural Practice | Art Administration, Education | Curatorial Studies | Research | History & Theory
Duration: 2.5 Years | (3 Summers + 1 Spring + 2 Fall Semesters)
Credits: 36 Credits | 6 Semesters
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Admission Requirement & Eligibility Criteria
Applicants with minimum 16 years of education or equivalent qualification with minimum 45% (2nd division) marks from HEC recognized educational institutions are eligible to apply.
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Application Process
- Fill out an application form from Beaconhouse National University's Online Application Portal.Print the form and submit it with attested photocopies of all the prior degrees and academic transcripts with a processing fee (Rs.3,500/-) to Registrar’s Office or email all documents (with proof of payment) to admissions@bnu.edu.pk.
- Work Portfolio: Candidates are required to submit any two of the following:
a) Digital Portfolio of their work (10 images labelled with the title, medium size and year, of their recent works/projects OR works/projects of your students, in jpeg
format or in the form of a power point or similar presentation) submitted on CD, USB or by email.
b) Academic Writing Sample: Candidates with non-art background or Writing Discipline background may submit 1-3 writing samples (a reflective essay, an opinion piece, academic paper in relevant field), previous sample lesson plans, course outlines or curriculum documents.
- Statement of Purpose/Statement of Intent : Candidates are required to submit a 500 - 800 word (or 1-2 page statement), elaborating on their prior professional interests and intended graduate research interest or direction.
- Curriculum Vitae (CV): All the candidates also need to submit their updated Curriculum Vitae, highlighting their prior academic and professional experience.
Note: Portfolio, Statement & CV must be emailed to artedma@bnu.edu.pk
- Interview: After successful submission of all the paperwork, the candidate will be invited to appear in an interview
with Graduate Studies faculty panel. Candidates from different countries or cities may request for an online or
telephonic interview.
- Fee Structure 2021
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Courses
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Semester I - Year 1
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Semester II - Year 1
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Semester III - Year 2
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Semester IV - Year 2
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Semester V - Year 3
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Semester VI - Year 3
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MA AE Mandatory Courses
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Thinking Through Materials | Semester 1
Course Code: AE 701 | Contact Time: 6 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Studio
This course provides opportunities for in-depth explorations of the properties, structures, materiality and expressive uses of various materials. Ideas investigated through the entire body extend personal visual repertoires of the students by facilitating critical questioning and reexamination of their experiences with materials. The course also provokes insights into the role of concrete materials in supporting, integrating and challenging the different directions they suggest, as well as the different possibilities for teaching and learning embedded in these.
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Studio II: Contexts and Strategies for Making and Teaching | Semester 3
Course Code: AE-708 | Contact Time: 6 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Studio
This course provides a stimulating context in which students begin to identify social, cultural and pedagogical contexts for their art practices. Using a variety of mediums students are encouraged to think as art practitioners, researchers and facilitators of art making. Students explore scale, local and global contexts of contemporary art and art as a social and educational practice in their immediate local environment. In addition, they learn to manage various technically challenging skills and develop a personal narrative and relationship with materials and teaching context in mind.
*Studio courses will be offered with variations in content, subject to availability of teaching artists.
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Advanced Strategies for Making and Teaching | Semester 6
Course Code: AE-713 | Contact Time: 3 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Studio-Seminar
This course supports the independent research pathway identified by the student and equips them with adaptive tools and strategies to develop multi-modal ideas and tasks relevant to the changing domains of learning and teaching. It encourages students to formulate an independent project emerging from particular modes of research such as archiving, documentary mode, film-making, etc. to redefine and strengthen their relationship with their research area. Students develop an understanding of the research based practice through developing a project in the form of a book, film, installation, photographic series or other formats.
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Curriculum and Instructional Design | Semester 1
Course Code: AE-703 | Contact Time: 1.5 Hours Per Week | Credits: 1.5 | Theory
This part of the course offers an examination of curriculum design, arts integration and assessment. Students learn about curriculum theory and design and have the opportunity to apply methods learned in art and design education contexts in Pakistan. Considering the lack of local or national standards, the course also aims to initiate an inquiry into the factors that determine evaluation criteria, assessment and standards, particularly from the students’ own experiences as teachers and students.
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History and Philosophy in Art Education | Semester 1
Course Code: AAE-702 | Contact Time: 3 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Theory
This course is divided into two components covering historical foundations and philosophical foundations respectively. In the former an introduction is provided to major historical events and underlying beliefs that have influenced contemporary art and design education programmes within South Asia and beyond. It also addresses the history of ideas and its role in the development of arts and design conventions over the ages. In the second component of the course, philosophies and theories of education and arts are analysed with a focus on their application to making and teaching art.
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Artistic Development and Psychology | Semester I/3
Course Code: AE-704 | Contact Time: 1.5 Hours Per Week | Credits: 1.5 | Theory
In this part of the course, theories of cognition, social learning, information processing, motivation involved in critical and creative thinking and problem-solving (across different age groups and development levels) are investigated as they apply to the teaching and learning processes, especially relating to art education. Emphasis is laid on a discussion of ways in which developmental insights are basic to designing challenging lessons in the visual arts that enrich learning and transformation across the lifespan.
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Diversity in Art Education | Semester I/3
Course Code: AE-705 | Contact Time: 1.5 Hours Per Week | Credits: 1.5 | Theory
In a culturally diverse context such as Pakistan, the classroom is a potent learning community. However, often educational systems create problems for students who are deemed different, failing to develop their unique potential and for learning to be meaningfully contextualized for them. Using self-reflective writing, dialogue and discussion the course offers teachers the opportunity to reflect on how they might help every student succeed in a diverse learning environment, how they might negotiate issues of diversity, improvise their teaching practices and how they might use differentiated instruction.
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Tools and Technologies in Art Education | Semester I/3
Course Code: AE-706 | Contact Time: 1.5 Hours Per Week | Credits: 1.5 | Theory
This course offers a hands-on exploration of interactive digital and electronic technologies to support teaching. Applications for teaching art are reviewed through approaching technology as a material to explore and investigate. Skills and analytical methods employed in the course enhance the students’ ability to communicate with their own students, colleagues, parents, and communities using relevant modes of communication employed by youth in schools, colleges and other educational settings. These include the Internet, social media, mobile telecommunications, digital archives and social learning portals and modes.
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Critical Pedagogy in Art Education | Semester 3
Course Code: AE-710 | Contact Time: 1.5 Hours Per Week | Credits: 1.5 | Theory
This course frames teaching practice in the context of theories of art curriculum, teaching strategies and methodologies, classroom dialogue, and critical pedagogy and the potential art education has for transforming students and the culture we live in. It provides an overview of pedagogical methods for teachers to reflect on how they might engage their students in art-making and learning activities in schools and higher education. Drawing on their own teaching and learning experiences, students develop age-appropriate teaching strategies and practices including lesson and unit planning, instructional strategies, and assessment procedures.
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Research Methods in Art Education | Semester 3
Course Code: AE-709 | Contact Time: 3 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Theory
This is an introductory course in qualitative research methods which explores art education as a form of inquiry that is grounded in the theories, practices and contexts of art and design educators. Building on traditions in the social sciences and practices in the visual disciplines, students are guided to carry out research and writing in a real-world context. Students are introduced to scholarly writing guidelines and conventions, through which they learn to search for, analyse and evaluate relevant academic research. By the end of the course, it is expected that students narrow down an individual research question for their thesis.
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Teaching Practicum | Semester 2
Course Code: AE-707 | Contact Time: 3 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Theory
This course is a field work component occurring in-between the summer semesters to support and develop the teaching or other educational practice of students during the year when they might be engaged in their full-time teaching or related professional responsibilities. Assessment of the course is done in a variety of ways including site visits, use of online social platforms and portals, video conferencing and reflective teacher journals. This course is conducted off campus.
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Research and Professional Practice | Semester 4
Course Code: AE-711 | Contact Time: 3 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Theory
This course is a self-directed independent study with a fieldwork component. Student-teachers are able to expand upon any concerns that were identified during the summer Research Methods in Art Education course. Student-teachers will initiate the ground work for their research, write a detailed literature review and will ultimately be led to choosing their thesis track between writing and a project format. They are also led through methodical stages of identifying and expanding a theoretical framework for their research.
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Thesis Advisement I | Semester 5
Course Code: AE-712 | Contact Time: 3 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Theory
This is an advanced research practicum course offered over the final year of study for evaluating student research and teaching practices. Students design the methodology for their thesis research in light of their identified question, chosen thesis track and underlying theoretical framework. They also put this methodology in action, collecting relevant data through fieldwork conducted according to research protocols. Instruction is delivered through close one-on-one contact with an advisor, allowing opportunity for meaningful exchange and consistent reflection.
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Thesis Advisement II | Semester 6
Course Code: AE-714 | Contact Time: 3 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Theory
Through this course, students conclude their final thesis in consultation with a thesis supervisor. They chart the course of their investigation according to their chosen thesis track, in light of the requirements set by the nature of this investigation and following the protocols of formatting, citation and archiving. Students also undertake
a systemic periodic process of evaluations and revisions in conversation with thesis supervisors.
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Thesis Seminar | Semester 6
Course Code: AE-715 | Contact Time: 3 Hours Per Week | Credits: 3 | Theory
This seminar course guides students’ independent work in research to develop a Master’s Thesis; a written academic report or project which reflects students’ analytical, organisational and problem-solving abilities with regard to a research focus. The Thesis Seminar in conjunction with 3 other courses (Thesis Advisement I, Thesis Advisement II and Research and Professional Practice) provides instructional support for their research and writing. In this course, students assess their findings and are acquainted with methods of analysis through which they conclude their research.
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Thesis Requirements
A thesis is required for completion of the degree. The Master’s Thesis is a written paper or a field-based/ practice-led initiative project produced during the final year of graduate study that applies the students’ problem solving and analytical skills developed during coursework to investigate a topic relating to art, design or other visual form of education. Typically, students select this topic from their own practice of education. The thesis must demonstrate the students’ abilities to design, produce, and present the results of an original professional inquiry in the broad fields of arts education.
Areas of educational inquiry can range from teaching and learning in art, design or related fields, curriculum projects, socio-cultural perspectives on education, historical research, arts and cultural advocacy, to educational policy development and implementation.
The two thesis tracks will be:
1) A Research Paper (15, 000 – 20, 000)
2) A Thesis Project that may entail fieldwork and an out put in any creative format (subject to approval of these supervisor), accompanied by a project report (3500-5000 words).
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Degree Requirement
36 Credits | 11 Courses
8 Compulsory courses: 2 Studio + 3 Theory + 3 Thesis & Thesis support courses.
3 Elective courses: 1 Practicum + 2 Elective courses