The Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) and the Visual Culture Theory

Abstract

The Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) and the Visual Culture Theory have been two major influences in art education in the last decades. The Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) is believed to be a response to the accountability concerns and the common impression that art is not an academic subject. The Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) supports sequential, academically oriented, organized contents, which is subject to a reasonable degree of objective evaluation in curriculum. Visual Culture approach started in the mid-1990s as a very diverse field and many of its advocates make connection with power relations in the society. Visual Culture adapts a critical discourse based on imagery and art works within their contexts through political, sociological, cultural, and psychological perspectives. They also put it in a place where Visual Culture plays a role, either it is a starting point or the description of inequalities in power relationships of capitalism. These two major approaches are discussed in this paper from an educational perspective