Co-teaching in MFA Programs: How Collaborative Teaching Works in Fine Arts Education

When you hear co-teaching, a teaching model where two or more instructors share responsibility for designing and delivering a course. Also known as collaborative teaching, it’s not just splitting lecture duties—it’s about creating richer learning experiences by combining different perspectives, techniques, and professional backgrounds. In MFA programs, this isn’t a luxury; it’s becoming the standard. Imagine a creative writing class where one instructor is a published novelist with decades of industry experience, and the other is a digital media artist who’s taught at three universities. Together, they don’t just teach writing—they show you how stories live across platforms, how to pitch to editors, and how to build a sustainable creative career. That’s co-teaching in action.

Co-teaching works because MFA programs are built around practice, not just theory. A visual arts program might pair a sculptor with a curator to show students how to present work in galleries, not just make it. A theater MFA could bring together a director and a dramaturg to help students understand how scripts evolve from page to stage. This isn’t about redundancy—it’s about depth. Students get feedback from multiple experts at once, learn to navigate different teaching styles, and see how real creative professionals collaborate outside the classroom. And it’s not just for students. Faculty benefit too. Co-teaching breaks isolation, sparks new ideas, and helps instructors stay sharp by challenging their own assumptions.

But it’s not always easy. Successful co-teaching needs clear roles, shared goals, and mutual respect. It’s not just two people standing side by side. It’s planning syllabi together, grading consistently, and sometimes disagreeing in front of students—and showing them how to work through it. That’s part of the lesson. The best MFA programs don’t just teach art; they model how art is made in the real world: through collaboration, compromise, and constant dialogue.

Below, you’ll find real-world guides on how instructors design these courses, how to build trust between co-teachers, and how to measure student outcomes when multiple voices are in the room. You’ll also see how ethical course design, active learning, and credential marketing tie into this model—because co-teaching isn’t just about who’s in front of the class. It’s about what happens after the bell rings.