Art Therapy Programme code: W3-S1AR19.2024

Art therapy is an interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary field of study, it is conducted by three universities (UŚ, Academy of Fine Arts and AM). The field of study does not have a single set of model outcomes regulated by the regulations, it is defined by the author's interdisciplinary learning outcomes, combining the scopes of 3 fields and 5 scientific disciplines: 1) Field of art, discipline: musical arts 2) Field of Arts, discipline: Fine Arts and Art Conservation 3) field of social sciences, discipline: pedagogy 4) field of social sciences, discipline: psychology 5) field of humanities, discipline: art sciences. Understanding art therapy as a subdiscipline interdisciplinary combining components of art, pedagogy, special education, therapy and psychology implies the essence of multidimensional planning of the study program preparing qualified art therapists. It is not without significance to realize that ART is a specifically human activity, a message, triggered by human expression, as a result of which products are created that have the ability to evoke emotional states of an aesthetic nature. Therefore, it is impossible to talk about art therapy without placing it in truly aesthetic and expressive considerations. Unfortunately, educational practice at various levels of education in our country, including higher education, indicates an almost complete lack of a concept of education in this field (not counting attempts to include art therapy in the structure of other fields of study as an additional specialty). It is extremely important to break the almost universal tendency to teach – sometimes completely random people – to therapeutic work using art. This results in a situation that we observe with great concern that art therapy is performed by people who are completely devoid of any artistic inclinations. Other phenomena also appear - in rehabilitation, re-education and assistance facilities, artists work without psychopedagogical preparation and knowledge of therapeutic strategies. Both phenomena can be a practice that causes discomfort for both therapists and patients and pupils, sometimes even dangerous. The field of Art Therapy is a long-awaited educational offer by the community of artists, animators and educators, which is an alternative to a number of other proposals primitivizing art in therapeutic activities. Therefore, in response to the social demand resulting from the need of the moment, it is supposed to fulfill the rudimentary task of preparing a graduate with competences essential for art therapy: supporting the development of another person and conducting therapeutic activities while freely using the actual artistic workshop. Such a fusion of education, science, therapy and art is guaranteed by the establishment of a field of study interdisciplinary combining learning outcomes in three areas: arts (including those located in the field of fine arts and musical arts) and social sciences and humanities. Thinking about art therapy as a field of study must therefore assume a reference to educational segments carried out by various scientific entities dealing with reflection on therapeutic and artistic activities. In accordance with the above, three Katowice universities: the Academy of Fine Arts, the Academy of Music and the University of Silesia have created and jointly run an interdisciplinary, interdisciplinary field of study in art therapy, and the act of establishing this unique field of study is in line with their missions and development strategies. The concept of the study programme was prepared by the Institute of Pedagogy of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Silesia in cooperation with the Academy of Music and the Academy of Fine Arts, and each unit appointed a coordinator of the programme, responsible for the implementation of joint activities undertaken between the three entities conducting the programme. All entities forming the field of study actively participate in the process of qualification of candidates for studies, in the teaching process and in the graduation process. Studies are carried out only in a full-time mode, as individuals express special concern for the level of acquired learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences, which, given such an extensive formula of activity, especially artistically characterized, cannot be undertaken part-time, as is provided for in the part-time mode. This applies mainly to classes requiring direct participation of teachers and students, held in art and music modules. The course is dedicated to a specific candidate – with special aesthetic talents (but not necessarily with artistic education), who wants to obtain interdisciplinary artistic, humanistic and social education and at the same time use the professional language of art in broadly understood therapy and development support. By definition, Art Therapy is an elite offer, hence the recruitment for the first year will include a test in the field of musical and artistic talents and a competition of secondary school leaving certificates. The Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Silesia is the administrator of the field of study, providing logistical support for the programme, dealing with student service, including electronic registration of candidates, recruitment procedure, enrolment, administration of the programme, completion of the semester, registration of the diploma process, including the issuance of a diploma diploma. The graduate will receive a joint bachelor's degree in art therapy, signed by the three universities mentioned above.

The condition for admission to the diploma examination is to achieve the learning outcomes provided for in the study program, to obtain a certificate of an appropriate level of language proficiency in a foreign language and to obtain positive grades for the diploma dissertation. The condition for graduation is to pass the diploma examination with at least a satisfactory result. A graduate receives a higher education diploma confirming obtaining the qualifications of the appropriate degree. Detailed rules of the diploma process and the requirements for the diploma thesis are set out in the Rules and Regulations of Studies at the University of Silesia and the diploma regulations.

Internships are an integral part of the study program, carried out by students in individual fields, levels, profiles and forms of study. Internships are to help in confronting the knowledge acquired during studies with the requirements of the labour market, acquiring skills useful in the profession, learning about practical issues related to working in positions for which the student is prepared during the course of studies. The internship is to familiarize the student with professional language relevant to a specific industry and work culture. The rules for the organization of internships are set out in the Rector's ordinance. Detailed rules of apprenticeship taking into account the specifics of particular fields of study are set out in the field's of study apprenticeship regulations, in particular: learning outcomes assumed to be achieved by the student during the apprenticeship, framework apprenticeship program including a description of issues, dimension of apprenticeship (number of weeks of practice); form of internship (continuous, mid-year), criteria for choosing the place of internship, obligations of the student staying in the internship, obligations of the academic tutor, conditions for completing the internship by the student and conditions for exemption from the internship obligation in whole or in part. The number of ECTS and the number of hours are specified in the course structure.

The development strategy of the art therapy programme is in line with the assumptions concerning the development of the three entities co-responsible for its operation – and thus with the mission and development strategy of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice and the University of Silesia. The mission of the University of Silesia assumes that the university fulfils an important social service consisting in the comprehensive development of personality and the formation of creative attitudes and spiritual aspirations of people associated with it, thus influencing the cultural face of the Region and the entire Polish region. The mission of the Academy of Fine Arts, on the other hand, is guided by the principles of freedom of teaching, freedom of scientific research, freedom of artistic creation and responsibility in working with people. On the other hand, the mission of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice and the University of Silesia for the years 2020-2025. The mission of the University of Silesia assumes that the university fulfils an important social service consisting in the comprehensive development of personality and the formation of creative attitudes and spiritual aspirations of people associated with it, thus influencing the cultural face of the Region and the entire Polish region. The mission of the Academy of Fine Arts, on the other hand, is guided by the principles of freedom of teaching, freedom of scientific research, freedom of artistic creation and responsibility in working with people. On the other hand, the mission of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice indicates, among other things, the dynamic creation of fields of study and curricula that would correspond to contemporary trends in art, and at the same time create employment opportunities for future graduates. Referring to the intensification of cooperation with the environment, he also mentions the need to create and maintain permanent contacts with Silesian universities. This need corresponds directly with the strategic objectives of the University of Silesia in Katowice, identified in the area of education (creating innovative, joint, interdisciplinary fields of study) and in the area of cooperation with the environment (maintaining contacts with institutions). The field of art therapy has no precedent in the educational offer of our region, its curriculum combining competences belonging to three areas and fields of science and art, is provided didactically, but also with scientific reflection and artistic activity, by three universities in Katowice. The primary task for the field of art therapy is to prepare students/graduates for creative and professional activity in the field of art, supported by competences in the field of psychology, pedagogy and therapy, based on modern tools and up-to-date knowledge, while ensuring the best possible infrastructural conditions, taking into account the needs and expectations of the labour market and society. The tasks assigned to the field of study are located in the above-mentioned fields resulting from the mission and development strategy of the three universities running it and include four basic trajectories of activities: scientific, artistic, educational and social. 1. Scientific trajectory A special place in the development strategy of the field of study will be given to the establishment of research procedures based on the interdisciplinary potential of the three founding universities, constituting a kind of dialogue between fields that are equal to each other, treated symmetrically, while maintaining their autonomy. At the same time, it will look for fields of empirical experience of therapy through art and attempts to compose transdisciplinary research inscribed in it, as an extraordinary added value, based on the inclusion in the theoretical framework of some of the findings made in a different research context - a new scientific discipline hatching in the near future. This will result in gaining a novel and innovative perspective on conducting scientific investigations, which will allow for an in-depth penetration of the art therapy fusion of art and therapy in a real multidimensional approach. It will also allow for the creation of new and strong research teams, generating a unique range of basic and applied research. 2. Artistic trajectory. The rudimentary goal of the programme is to counteract the primitivizing of art in therapeutic activities, and therefore assumes equipping the graduate with the competence to use the language of broadly understood aesthetics, using his or her artistic sensitivity and creative potential. Artistic activities will be inscribed mainly in the field of visual arts and music. The graduate will be an artist with full opportunities for artistic expression and, at the same time, expression and, at the same time, complete competences necessary to conduct art-based therapeutic activities. 3. Educational trajectory. The curriculum was created with great care for the comprehensive development of the student, leading towards the self-actualization of the potential of each individual through interdisciplinary activities and characterized by a tendency to undertake intersubjective relations. It will focus on providing high-quality education and preparing graduates to undertake art therapy activities in institutions dedicated to people with special needs, requiring support, rehabilitation, rehabilitation, resocialization or re-education, who use art as a medium of change and stimulation of development in their therapeutic program. 4. Social trajectory. The programme assumes close cooperation and action for the benefit of the environment, especially cooperation with local government units, cultural, cultural and educational institutions and institutions, as well as with regional, national and international institutions and associations. To this end, activities undertaken with external partners in order to disseminate and apply the results of scientific research in practice and participation in artistic activities building the aesthetic awareness of the environment will be included.