META takes a collective arts approach. This two-year part-time MA In Education And The Arts (META) at MIC is neither an integrated arts programme nor a programme in any specific discipline.
Students examine a range of practices in arts education in primary, secondary and other educational contexts; scrutinising practices in music, visual arts, drama, dance, literature and film education. They interrogate the theories underpinning these practices and the national and international historical and policy contexts in which they are embedded. They also engage with core philosophical ideas relating to education and the arts: creativity, imagination, aesthetics, form, process, community, transformation, diversity, and performance.
Key Features
The programme provides a broad-based training in established and emergent (arts) education research methodologies. Student engagement with ‘live’ works of art is integral to the programme. Such engagement is facilitated by the presence on campus of Lime Tree Theatre and its nearby off-campus venue, Belltable, as well as by the proximity of Limerick City Gallery and the Hunt Museum; all receiving venues for high-quality national and international works of art and work by local artists. Ultimately, the META programme seeks to provide students with a firm understanding of the location of the arts within and outside the formal education system.
META is designed for both artists working (or intending to work) in educational contexts and teachers (primary and secondary) with a particular interest in the arts and education. It is also designed for arts/education policy makers and administrators.
Career Opportunities
Possible career opportunities for artists include: school residencies on teacher-artist partnership projects funded by the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht; residencies in a range of other educational contexts e.g. prisons, health, community education, youth arts, colleges involved in initial teacher education.
Possible career opportunities for teachers include: opportunities to work with artists on in-school teacher-artist partnership projects; special duties’ posts as arts education coordinators in schools; providing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in arts education for colleagues; designing, delivering and leading national CPD programmes in the arts for teachers (with the advent of a new primary school curriculum and fresh initiatives at second level).
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