KEY APPROACHES OF CONTEMPORARY FOREIGN SCHOLARS TO UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF «AESTHETIC EDUCATION »

Abstract

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of contemporary approaches to aesthetic education in the context of arts education, cultural transformations, and the social challenges of the twenty-first century. The study focuses on the key approaches of contemporary international scholars to understanding aesthetic education as a multidimensional and dynamic phenomenon. The purpose of the article is to systematize and analyze modern theoretical concepts of aesthetic education and to identify its role in personal development and social change. The research methodology is based on theoretical analysis, comparison, and synthesis of philosophical, pedagogical, cultural, and interdisciplinary studies in the fields of aesthetics and arts education. The article draws on the works of contemporary European, American, Asian, and Latin American scholars representing a variety of methodological approaches, including phenomenological, embodied, sociocultural, critical, and humanistic perspectives. The content of the article conceptualizes aesthetic education as a process that goes beyond the formation of artistic taste and the perception of beauty. It encompasses embodied experience, reflection, everyday aesthetics, cultural identity, democratic values, social justice, and sustainability. Particular attention is paid to art, which researchers define as a space of freedom, social interaction, critical reflection, and cultural development. Considerable emphasis is also placed on educational and everyday aesthetic practices. The findings show that aesthetic education is increasingly considered in the context of sociopolitical change, personal development, the humanization of the educational environment, and interpersonal relationships. Aesthetic education is presented as a sociocultural process shaped within institutional and political contexts, capable of initiating social change, fostering social cohesion, and serving as a space of freedom, democratization, and critical self-reflection. Didactic and phenomenological approaches emphasize active and reflective aesthetic perception. The humanistic approach integrates beauty and ethics within aesthetic education. Socially oriented approaches view aesthetic education as an instrument of social justice, peace, and cultural transformation.