The Breitner Academy of the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK)  offers the only independent Fine Art teacher training course in The Netherlands. You will be trained in order to become a professional, motivated and committed teacher by following the four-year bachelor’s teaching course in Fine Art and Design. Based on your own  fascination with art and culture, you learn to coach others and to guide them through the world of art practice and visual culture.

The Breitner Academy (formerly known as the Academie voor Beeldende Vorming) is part of the Amsterdam University of the Arts. Some 3000 students are currently studying at the AHK in six faculties and two workplaces for theatre & dance and film. Most of the faculties of the Amsterdam University of the Arts are situated in the centre of the city. The Breitner Academy is situated at the Overhoeksplein 2, on the north side of the river IJ, in a new and rapidly developing part of Amsterdam.

Amsterdam occupies a central position within the world of art and culture in the Netherlands. The cultural allure of the city is also widely recognised throughout the world. The Breitner Academy and the city of Amsterdam will broaden your horizons in many ways. 

After obtaining your degree, you are entitled to call yourself a Bachelor of Fine Art in Education (BFA Ed). This allows you to teach the visual disciplines at any level from primary school to higher professional education, as well as to give cultural and artistic education (CKV) at levels 1, 2 and 3. It also allows you to teach outside the school system, for example in cultural institutions.

There are around 350 students at the Breitner Academy. Thirty theory and practice tutors provide the training, assisted by eight technical instructors.

The course is entirely taught in the Dutch language and the hands-on training is done in Dutch schools. Foreign students who do not know Dutch cannot study at the Breitner Academy. There is an exception for exchange students, who are guest-students for a short period of time.

History
Breitner Academy is the oldest institute in the Netherlands to train art teachers. It started in 1881 in the Rijksmuseum. In 1973 the higher and lower teacher training courses in drawing, handicrafts and textiles were separated from one another. The name of the lower level course was changed to d’Witte Lelie.

The two different institutes were unified under one roof the 1th of September 2000. Exactly two years later the two levels were combined to form one Bachelor course in Fine Art and Design in Education. Besides the two-dimensional subjects, three-dimensional subjects and the new media have an equal weight in the course.

Since 2016 the academy is situated in Amsterdam Noord en named after the Amsterdam artist George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923) who lived during the foundation of the academy. The academy always sets its goals fitting the actual function of art education in society.