What is Institute of Art Education of the USSR APS

Teaching and learning of literature and of the arts in school is assimilated to scientific knowledge, which neglects the identity of the arts. A didactics of the arts could solve this problem. Philosophy of art shows that beauty has the capacity to capture the essence of human being and that puts the arts in a special position in the educational practice. Existence of artistic and esthetic knowledge demonstrates the need to constitute, recognize and implement a didactics of arts. The author offers a first definition of artistic-esthetic education based on examination of its gnostic origins and of the subsequent historical developments of the term and of the field of artistic-esthetic education. Principles of artistic-esthetic education as a branch of science education are used to exemplify the definition. Ideas, concepts and principles examined and developed by the author are illustrated with theoretical and praxeological developments from the East-European educational space.