Preparing Teachers of Art at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman

Higher Art Education in Oman has a very short history. Officially, Art Education programme for preparing teachers of Art was first established in 1991 with the opening of the Art Education Department at SQU in Muscat. The main aim of the programme was, and still is, to prepare qualified Art Education Teachers for different pre-university stages and levels, as indicated in the department's published aims. The establishment of this department in Oman was late compared to other Arab Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. Since the establishment of the department there have been substantial and dramatic changes in preparing teachers of Art at SQU. These changes were in admission requirement for the program, the outcomes of the program and the requirements for graduation with references to the conceptual framework of the college of education. This research focuses on the key assessments of the art teacher preparation program in relation to academic accreditation as requested by National council Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) in order to obtain the substantial equivalence from the National Association of School of Art and Design (NASAD). The primary purpose of this study is to highlight the progress have been made to Initial program regarding the standardized artistic abilities test, GPA Analysis for content knowledge in art education, candidate ability to plan instruction, assessment of field experience, advance application in art studio practice and finally the Ministry of Education Employment Test which took place after graduating from SQU.