Aesthetic education aims to enhance the learner’s ability to comprehend the meanings of various different modes of expression; that is, to understand and interact with figures full of meaning. Everything in the world has the potential to be viewed as a producer of such meanings, as a figure full of meanings or, put otherwise, as an aesthetical experience. The arts, however, are exactly those forms of intentional acts of figure creation that allow such meanings to emerge. As a result, learning of the arts is aesthetic education’s pathway to knowledge.

Aesthetic education and its goals may best be served by comprehensive arts education programs. Such programs, focusing on the unique character of the arts as meaning-givers, permit the cultivation of students’ ability to develop complete aesthetic responses, while, concurrently, revealing the complex (experiential-emotional and cognitive) nature of aesthetic perception overall.

The anthropological approach allows us to study instituted educational acts holistically. In addition, in light of the fact that education takes place within a certain set of cultural trends, customs, lifestyles and worldviews, the anthropological perspective helps us better understand the overarching cultural environment they form.

Lifelong Learning refers to a holistic approach to the entirety of educational and learning activities and aims to combine them into a cohesive unit in a space-time continuum. Current research into lifelong learning encompasses issues such as how people shape and reshape themselves through learning and education, the processes through which perception and belief shift, the connections between the various systems of formal, non-formal and informal education, and the conditions for civil participation in educational activities.

Στο πλαίσιο της Προσχολικής Παιδαγωγικής μελετώνται διαφορετικές προσεγγίσεις και αναδεικνύονται πολλαπλοί παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν, διευκολύνουν και ενισχύουν τη διδασκαλία και μάθηση των μικρών παιδιών και παράλληλα δημιουργούν ευκαιρίες για συζήτηση και αναστοχασμό με μελλοντικούς και εν ενεργεία εκπαιδευτικούς προσχολικής και πρώτης σχολικής ηλικίας. Ερευνητικά, η Προσχολική Παιδαγωγική καλύπτει ένα ευρύ φάσμα εννοιών και διαδικασιών επιδιώκοντας την ενδυνάμωση και υποστήριξη όσων εμπλέκονται στην εκπαιδευτική διαδικασία: ανάπτυξη ή αναμόρφωση ποιοτικών Προγραμμάτων Σπουδών, ανίχνευση ιδεών των παιδιών και εκπαιδευτικών, συμμετοχικές παιδαγωγικές πρακτικές στην εκπαίδευση και επαγγελματική ανάπτυξη, έρευνα-δράσης, παιχνίδι και παιγνιώδης μάθηση, διαφοροποιημένη παιδαγωγική, αυθεντική αξιολόγηση, συνεργασίες εκπαιδευτικών μεταξύ τους, με τα παιδιά, με την οικογένεια και άλλους φορείς. Παράλληλα μελετώνται ζητήματα της εκπαίδευσης των εκπαιδευτικών προσχολικής ηλικίας με στόχο την οργάνωση δημιουργικών περιβαλλόντων μάθησης.

Each culture and society develops its own physical practices which accompany the daily life and rituals of their members, comprise their history, dictate their understanding of the world and of “being” itself, define their identity and actively contribute to their education. Such physical practices may be observed in folk festivals, traditional celebrations and festivals. Other physical practices are dances, events, games, various forms of sports and exercise, body decoration, carnivals, outdoor activities just to name a few.