Zakład Teorii Wychowania Estetycznego na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim 1967–2007. Nadzieje – spełnienia – porażki

The article presents the 50-year history of the Theory of Aesthetic Education Unit established in 1967 within the Chair of General Education at the Faculty of Education at the University of Warsaw. In those days, the issues studied at the Theory of Aesthetic Education Unit were innovative, connected with the quest for the restoration of education and the formation of the integral man. They also expressed the expectations and hopes that were widespread in Poland after 1956. Moreover, those issues correlated with the revelation of the idea of “education for the future”, consolidating the meaning of the “inspirational duty of education”. The Unit’s activities were reflected in research studies, doctoral dissertations and publications, as well as in the practical experiences, in terms of university and school education and cooperation with teachers and institutions involved in the diffusion of culture. The article shows how, in difficult and historically variable circumstances, an interdisciplinary theoretical structure was shaped, simultaneously with an integrated pedagogical process. This concept, inspired by the classical thought of Polish and foreign authors, reveals a wide range of educational opportunities for art in an interdisciplinary perspective, as well as in the form of distinct artistic disciplines. Art education is understood as education towards and through art; it is the foundation of the humanistic orientation of educating the integral man, enriching general education.