Visual Arts - Teacher Education Academic Secondary Education [Gymnasium] State Exam Programs in Germany: Application Deadlines (2026/27)

Studying fine arts for teaching at secondary schools combines your own artistic practice with the opportunity to inspire young people to engage in aesthetic experiences and creative work. As an art teacher, you help students see the world through different eyes, visualize their own ideas, and critically analyze images—a skill that is more important than ever in our media society, which is flooded with images. In class, students draw, paint, print, sculpt, photograph, and create digital designs, but they also learn about and discuss art history from antiquity to contemporary art.

Studying fine arts for teaching at secondary schools combines your own artistic practice with the opportunity to inspire young people to engage in aesthetic experiences and creative work. As an art teacher, you help students see the world through different eyes, visualize their own ideas, and critically analyze images—a skill that is more important than ever in our media society, which is flooded with images. In class, students draw, paint, print, sculpt, photograph, and create digital designs, but they also learn about and discuss art history from antiquity to contemporary art. The program itself is uniquely practice-oriented: students develop their own artistic position in studios and workshops, while seminars on art history and art education lay the theoretical foundation. An entrance exam or portfolio review at the beginning of the program ensures that students have the necessary creative skills. The subject offers a degree of freedom that is rare in everyday school life – here, students are allowed to experiment, make mistakes, and follow their own paths. Those who are passionate about design, enjoy teaching, and want to give young people a space for creativity and self-expression will find art teaching a fulfilling profession that combines artistic identity and educational responsibility.