Art Education

The Art Education program at Montserrat is designed for the artist who wants to inspire the next generation. We provide the technical tools to manage a classroom and the creative foundation to maintain your own professional studio practice.

A Dual Focus: Artist & Educator

Our curriculum ensures you don’t have to choose between your art and your career:

• Studio Expertise: Develop deep knowledge in your chosen artistic concentration.
• Pedagogical Mastery: Gain the breadth of experience required to teach students from Pre-K through Grade 12.

What You Will Learn

We prepare you for the complexities of modern education through a comprehensive curriculum:

• Development & Psychology: Understanding child development and how students learn at different stages.
• Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for special needs, differentiated learning, and cultural/linguistic diversity.
• Curriculum Design: Learning to build, deliver, and assess instructional units and lesson objectives.
• Professional Foundations: Exploring the social and philosophical roots of art in education.

Massachusetts Licensure & Beyond

Montserrat offers a track toward Massachusetts Certification for Initial Licensure. Because of interstate reciprocity agreements, your Massachusetts certification can often be used to gain teaching credentials in many other states.

Montserrat Art Education Concentration Instagram 

The Massachusetts Certification for Initial Licensure requires the completion of 132 credits over nine semesters that include state exams, a full semester of practicum internship in a Pre-K–12 school and comprehensive career preparation. Interested students can contact Alicia Gray, Interim Art Education Director at or 978.921.4242 x1605 for more information.

Massachusetts Licensure

In Massachusetts, art teachers are licensed at two levels: pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and fifth through twelfth grade. The Art Education program at Montserrat offers initial licensure at either level, and coursework and student teaching experiences are assigned accordingly. Preparation of public school teachers in Art Education programs must include coursework addressing the Massachusetts Standards for Teacher Licensure and the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Frameworks.

Courses are designed to meet and exceed these standards for teachers of visual art. Students interested in the Art Education program are encouraged to begin coursework in the fall of their sophomore year after successful completion of the foundation program. Every student in the program is required to earn a B- or better in all art education courses and two related requirements (one psychology course and one diversity course).

2015-2020 NASDTEC Interstate Agreement Signees

(As of November 19, 2015)

Important Links

“The Art Education program not only contributed to my wonderful experience at Montserrat, but also gave me the confidence to succeed in my future.” –Erin Wolf ’13