Research problem: The term “competences” in this paper refers to a combination of knowledge, skills, and abilities that students gain through initial teacher education and use for effective teaching in early childhood and preschool settings. The arts and artistic activities in visual arts and music are important aspects of education from early childhood because they facilitate emotional, cognitive, social, and psychomotor development. The role of educators is to provide children with a supportive environment where they can express themselves artistically, but the educators must develop a certain level of competence to successfully engage children in the arts, so the purpose of this study was to measure and evaluate the teacher education students’ teaching competences in the arts.

Participants: Students in their third year of study, who are enrolled in the Early Childhood and Preschool Education study program at the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb and at the Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, were asked to participate in this study.

Method: An anonymous survey was administered to the students, who assessed their teaching competences in visual arts and music on a 5-point Likert scale. The results were analyzed to identify the areas of student competences in the arts that need further development.

Outcomes: As a result of initial teacher education, the students tend to feel competent for teaching visual arts and music in early childhood and preschool settings, but several areas of student competences that can be improved have also been identified.

Conclusions: Initial early childhood and preschool teacher education in Croatia and Slovenia develops the students’ competences in the arts, but further improvements are also necessary to improve the students’ competences for planning and conducting art activities.

Implications: The results can be used to inform the development of teacher competences in the arts through initial teacher education.