Art teacher soft skills

Communication

Effective communication is essential in classroom settings. It’s not just about you teaching students different aspects of art and the related techniques. It includes listening to their thoughts and queries and being open to debating different perspectives.

Patience

Getting to grips with new artistic concepts or methods can take time, so patience really is a virtue amongst your art teacher skills. Allowing students the time and space to develop their ability and style will help them to build confidence.

Adaptability

Being adaptable in how you teach a creative subject like art is key. Adapting your lesson plans to cater to different learning styles enhances inclusivity, ensures understanding and keeps the learning process dynamic and engaging for all.

Empathy

Creating art can be a personal and often emotional process. Having genuine empathy with your students’ thoughts and feelings about their work, providing encouragement and celebrating success all help to ensure a positive classroom environment and to help students develop their practice

Creativity

Your own creativity is important when teaching art as a subject. As an art teacher, you should constantly seek ways to inspire creativity in your students, pushing them to explore new perspectives and create unique and original artworks.

Art teacher hard skills

Knowledge of art history

A good knowledge of art history allows you to contextualise and enrich your students' understanding of different artistic styles, periods and movements. This can lead to discussions and debates that enrich students’ learning.

Artistic techniques

Demonstrating a proficiency in various artistic techniques – be it painting, sculpture, digital art or printmaking – provides a foundation for your students to build their own skills. Your ability to demonstrate and teach these techniques instils confidence in your students as they begin to develop their own artistic identities.

Design principles

Your grasp of design principles including elements like line, form, colour and texture enables students to delve into the intricacies of creating their own artworks. This is a crucial bridge between theoretical knowledge and practical application.

Use of art-related software

In this digital age, a good working knowledge of art-related software should be amongst your art teacher skills. Making art modern and relevant for your students via the realm of digital art will motivate and inspire.

Ways to improve art teacher skills

Ongoing training and learning

From attending art workshops to enrolling in digital courses, actively seeking out learning opportunities helps to strengthen your art teacher skills and keep your knowledge bang up to date.

Seek feedback

Seeking feedback from your students, peers or mentors can provide valuable insights into areas where you can improve your art teacher skills.

Practise your passion

Don’t neglect your personal passion for art. Whatever your preferred mediums, the more you take time to create art away from the classroom the more your passion will influence and inspire your students. You could even use your own work as a teaching tool.