ABSTRACT

In the contemporary educational landscape, fostering students’ innovative capacities has emerged as a strategic imperative. Aesthetic education—characterised by the integration of artistic and creative modalities into the learning process—is widely regarded as a potential catalyst for such innovation. However, the pedagogical efficacy of these approaches may be contingent upon specific teacher-related variables. Purpose: This study investigated the impact of Aesthetic Education Pedagogy on students’ innovative skills, with a particular focus on the mediating role of Teacher Competency and the moderating effect of Teachers’ Pedagogical Knowledge. Method: Adopting a quantitative research design, data were gathered via a structured questionnaire administered to a sample of 349 students from diverse educational settings. Analytical procedures were conducted using SPSS (Version 26), comprising reliability assessment, Spearman’s correlation, multiple regression analysis, and moderated mediation analysis via PROCESS Macro Model 5. All measurement scales demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha > 0.90). Findings: The analysis revealed a significant positive association between Teacher Competency and Students’ Innovative Skills (β = 0.467, p < .001). In contrast, Aesthetic Education Pedagogy exerted a small but statistically significant negative influence (β = –0.106, p = .027). Moreover, Teachers’ Pedagogical Knowledge significantly moderated this direct relationship (interaction β = –0.09, p = .04). Collectively, the model accounted for 25.4% of the variance in students’ innovation outcomes. Implications: The findings highlight the critical role of pedagogical expertise and instructional adaptability in translating aesthetic strategies into meaningful innovation. They suggest that without adequate teacher preparation and a flexible pedagogical orientation, the creative promise of aesthetic education may remain unrealised.