Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Licensure: Visual Art PreK–8 and 5–12

Learning Format

Hybrid

Types

Certificate/PBTL
Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Licensure: Visual Art PreK–8 and 5–12

Turn your art practice into a teaching career

The Visual Art track prepares you for a Massachusetts Initial Teaching License in Visual Art, for PreK through grade 8, grades 5 through 12, or both. It's designed for working artists and people with a bachelor's degree in art, design, or another field who want to teach art in public schools.

You take the shared PBTL education core, a methods course for your subject with time in a real public school classroom, and finish with a full semester of student teaching. Depending on your transcript, you may also need a few visual arts courses to meet this license's subject-matter requirements.
 

Why choose Visual Art PreK–8 and 5–12?

  • You choose your grade band. Teach younger students (PreK–8), older students (5–12), or pursue both. The courses are shared until student teaching, where you complete the practicum for the band you want.
  • Your portfolio counts. Your application includes 10 to 15 images of your own artwork, so the work you've already made is part of how you're evaluated.
  • You want to teach one subject. Visual Art is a single-subject license, so your teaching day centers on art.
  • You might want a master's too. FSU also offers these licenses through an M.Ed. path. Ask your coordinator which path fits your goals.
Program Requirements

Courses for this license

CourseTitle
EDIL 802Professional Preparation II: Special Needs and Educational Technology
EDIL 828Secondary Methods with Field Study II: Visual Art Grades PreK–8 & 5–12
EDPS 868A / 869AStudent Teaching Practicum and Seminar I: Visual Art PreK–8 (868A) or 5–12 (869A)
EDPS 868B / 869BStudent Teaching Practicum and Seminar II: Visual Art PreK–8 (868B) or 5–12 (869B)

Methods courses run in the fall. Student teaching runs in the spring: Practicum A from mid-January to mid-March, then Practicum B from mid-March to mid-May. Your methods courses and both practicum courses must be taken at FSU.

Subject-matter requirements
Massachusetts requires candidates for this license to hold a bachelor's degree and to demonstrate the depth and breadth of content knowledge needed to teach the state's Arts Curriculum Framework: the Visual Arts standards for Grades PreK–10 for the PreK–8 license, and for Grades 3–12 for the 5–12 license.

Faculty in the Art and Music department review each applicant's transcript against the subject areas below, which FSU uses to assess that knowledge. Coursework completed at FSU or another institution may satisfy some or all of these areas, and the transcript review identifies any courses that remain.

RequirementFSU courses that meet it
Art history (3 courses)ARTH 270 History of Art I, ARTH 272 History of Art II, and ARTH 273 Modern Art History
Art history electiveAny 200- or 300-level ARTH course, or an 800- or 900-level ARTH course
Drawing fundamentalsARTS 200 Drawing Fundamentals (or ARTS 110 Introduction to Drawing)
3D designARTS 203 Form and Structure
Color and designARTS 222 Color and Design
PaintingARTS 254 Painting Methods
Life drawingARTS 300 or ARTS 820 Life Drawing
Digital toolsARTS 230 Digital Tools or ARTS 830 Digital Art
Advanced drawingARTS 419 Advanced Drawing Studio
PrintmakingOne of ARTS 261 or 862 Printmaking, ARTS 308 or 863 Woodcut, ARTS 328 or 828 Intaglio, or ARTS 338 or 860 Lithography
CeramicsOne of ARTS 241 or 841 Ceramics, ARTS 266 or 844 Wheelworking, ARTS 307 Functional Ceramics, ARTS 403 Sculpture, or ARTS 416 Advanced Ceramics Studio

Plan to finish any subject-matter courses you still need before student teaching. Exceptions need your coordinator's approval.

Admissions Requirements

To apply, you'll need a bachelor's degree, a statement of purpose, and two recommendations. Your transcript is reviewed course by course for the subject-matter preparation this license requires. Full admissions detail, including how transcripts from outside the U.S. are handled, is on the Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Licensure (PBTL) program page.

Visual Art applicants also submit 10 to 15 digital images of their artwork through Slideroom. You can include multiple images of one piece to show detail.

Core Courses

Every student on this track takes:

  • EDIL 900 Field Study I in Education and Seminar (spring), or a waiver if you qualify
  • EDIL 910 Education Foundations
  • EDIL 920 Learning and Human Development
  • TESL 910 Sheltered English Immersion

EDIL 910 and EDIL 920 are offered online three times a year. Take them before your methods courses, since they're prerequisites.

Field Experience

Field Study I is observation. Field Study II is part of your methods course, where you take on real teaching. Then comes a full-time, semester-long student teaching practicum. Already working in a school at this level? You can apply to use a semester of that job in place of the practicum.

Application details and deadlines are on the Field Placement & Licensure Information page.

Tests You Will Need

You do not need to pass the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) to apply. You do need these before student teaching and before the state issues your license:

  • Communication and Literacy Skills
  • Visual Art (17), for subject matter knowledge

For registration dates and preparation materials, see Field Placement & Licensure Information.

Meet your Coordinator

Kelly Matthews

Kelly Matthews, Ph.D.

Professor and Secondary Education Coordinator, English Department and Interdisciplinary Studies Advisor and Coordinator
(508) 626-4815
kmatthews@framingham.edu
May Hall

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