Project Abstract

<p> The study titled “A Study of Teachers’ Assessment of Children’s Creative Art<br>Works in Some Primary Schools in Kaduna State” was designed to evaluate primary<br>school teachers’ method of assessing children’s creative art works. A total of 262<br>teachers and 350 pupils were randomly selected from twenty (20) primary schools in both<br>public and private primary schools within Kaduna Metropolis.<br>The tools used in collecting the data were-questionnaire, interview and<br>observational schedules, a practical test of drawing was also given to the pupils to test<br>their creative abilities in art. The data collected was analysed using the following<br>instruments percentages, t-test statistics and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation<br>Coefficient. The descriptive survey method (Afolabi, 1993, Johnson, 1977) was used in<br>collecting data for this study. Three research questions and three hypotheses were<br>developed for this study. The findings which derived from the analysis of data provided<br>some solution to the research questions and hypotheses thus<br>1. A significant relationship was found among the various ratings/assessment of<br>children’s art works by art teachers.<br>2. Male pupils performed significantly better than female pupils in creative arts, and<br>3. There is no significant difference between an evaluation of the performance of<br>children in public schools and those in private schools.<br>4. Other factors affecting evaluation of children’s art works include<br>– Poor professional/academic qualification(s) of art teachers.<br>– Lack of adequate knowledge of criteria to be used in evaluation and<br>viii<br>– Lack of art rooms/studios, materials etc.<br>Some of the recommendations made include<br>(a) Kaduna State Government should employ better-qualified art teachers, who<br>should be exposed to periodic in-service training on evaluation.<br>(b) Periodic workshops should be held for both qualified and non-qualified<br>teachers on methods of evaluating art process and products.<br>(c) Children in public schools should be encouraged to take greater interest in<br>art through provision of adequate art materials and more conducive<br>environment. <br></p>

Project Overview

<p> INTRODUCTION<br>1.0 Background of the Study<br>Assessment in art, like with other forms of educational attainment rating, is an<br>essential index of measuring growth and performance. But a major problem with art<br>teachers has always been that they are not too clear about what is to be assessed and in<br>what ways criteria can be defined ( Eisner, 1975; Olorukooba, 1990, 1992; ). Another<br>dilemma facing most art teachers today is that they do not know the most appropriate<br>method to use. Teachers therefore resort to using different methods and criteria in<br>assessing and measuring students’ artistic skill and competence. The problem of art<br>teachers is further compounded because they tend to believe that the art “product” of<br>learners are indicators of progress with little or no attention paid to how the work is<br>carried out. This practice seems to overemphasize the importance of product at the<br>expense of the process. Mbahi (1999) considers this practice harmful to the learner<br>because it turns attention away from artistic creativity to concerns for the picture or<br>object itself. Some aspects of assessment in the arts are well established. For example, in<br>the psychometric field, standardized tests of ability, aptitude, achievement and attitude<br>which have adequate levels of reliability and validity are available (Olorukooba; 1981;<br>1990). These measures are designed to assess the more objectively scoreable aspects of<br>artistic performance and perception like creative abilities and art products. Previous<br>attempts at designing assessment in the 1960s and1970s (Wallach and Kogan, 1965) met<br>with little success because the measures dealt with aspects of general intelligence which<br>did not lead to any new insights into the process of artistic performance. While<br>xvi<br>Standardized Test are not considered adequate for assessing children’s creative art works,<br>at the same time, there are always demands for the development of valid measures of<br>children’s progress in art. As Eisner (1975) and Mbani (1999) observed; one major<br>problem is that real – life artistic products are often judged by subjective criteria. In other<br>words the only person who can properly judge a product of art is the person who<br>produces it. However, in spite of these limitations, the argument that any form of<br>assessment in the arts is appropriate is not tenable because it is against the idea of artistic<br>creativity. Today, most art educators share the view that assessment and feedback both in<br>the process of making art and the product form an important aspect of teaching and<br>learning.<br>Researchers in the field have suggested two main reasons why standardized tests<br>are unsuitable for use in art: (i) they mainly attempt to assess the characteristics of the<br>person (producer) in favour of assessments of particular creative products within a given<br>piece of work (Amabile, 1983). For example, Gardner and Grinbowan (1986) reported<br>that it is for this reason that standardised tests of art in production, perception,<br>appreciation and comprehension have reached their limits in the United State Educational<br>System. They propose an alternative approach to assessment based on a workshop<br>environment. This involves teachers and pupils working in an apprenticeship relationship.<br>Pupils acquire artistic skills in the process by carrying out meaningful real-life project<br>under the guidance of teachers while assessment takes the form of joint evaluation of<br>pupils’ work. According to Wolf (1988), this method which has been developed in the<br>Arts proved to be successful.<br>The second trends deals with the distinction made between what is referred as “formative” and “summative” forms of assessment.<br>Formative assessment refers to a long- term evaluation of the process while summative refers to the overall evaluation of a piece of<br>work which has been undertaken over a period of time. Both formative and summative assessment are complementary aspects of<br>assessment in the arts though different researchers have tended to use one rather than the other. For example, Ross, et al, (1993) used<br>xvii<br>the formative approach in an assessment of art activities in which the pupils’ self-assessment formed an essential part of the process.<br>In this study, the researcher will find out art teachers’ modes of assessing pupils art works in some primary schools in Kaduna state.<br>There can be no doubt that teachers do assess children’s works in art on daily basis. However, very little is known about how they do<br>so.<br>1.1 Statement of the Problem:<br>Art teachers in our schools are confronted with numerous problems in assessing<br>children’s creative art works, amongst which are as listed below:<br>i. Art teachers are not too clear of what to assess.<br>ii. Another serious problem in art teaching is the fact that teachers do not know the most<br>appropriate method to use in assessment.<br>iii. Most teachers are often confused as whether to limit assessment of children’s work in<br>art to the “process” or “product”.<br>iv. Assessment of children’s work is subjective in nature, and that teachers lack a<br>uniform method or format for assessing children’s work in creative art.<br>Since there is no proper guide or format whereby teachers could use in assessing<br>children creative art works, they often resort to using different methods and criteria in<br>assessing or measuring children’s creative ability in art.<br>The importance of assessment in teaching and learning can not be over<br>emphasize. It is only through this medium that a teacher can understand the progress of a<br>child in any teaching subject. Osuagwu (1978) in supporting this view, mentions that like<br>in other subject areas of the school curriculum assessment in art has always been used to<br>determine the progress of learning and academic performance of students. The difficulty<br>in assessing pupils’ works therefore is mainly due to the subjective nature of the personal<br>art expression of the learner. Challinor (1978) cautions that because art differs from other<br>subject in many ways, assessment in this subject should consider:<br>a. The creative output of learners and<br>xviii<br>b. The fact that quality is a changing variable.<br>Numerical ratings are given to art works whether produced by children, adolescents<br>or matured students. Tests and examinations are given to learners regularly to build up a<br>continuous assessment report on learners. The introduction of continuous assessment by<br>the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1981, in which other internal and external<br>assessments are combined for the certification and prediction of future performance,<br>makes it necessary to device an acceptable means of assessing art works. The main<br>reason for the introduction of continuous assessment was therefore the liberalization of<br>our educational assessment. As contained in the new National Policy on Education,<br>(NPE, 1981), (Section 7.7), “Educational assessment and evaluation will be liberalized by<br>basing them in whole or in part as continuous assessment of individual”.<br>By this system, both the C.A scores of an individual and final examination scores<br>represent the overall performance of the student. This weighted score is believed to truly<br>represent the student’s capacity. The weighted score so derived is subsequently used in<br>decision-making like placement, prediction of future performance and certification<br>among others. However, many educators have expressed doubts as to the reliability of<br>scores often sent to states Ministry of Education. For instance, Osuagwu (1997) and<br>Mbahi (1999), among others also raised objection to the use of these subjective methods<br>in assessing artistic process and method. Because individual art expressions vary, no two<br>individuals are likely to react the same way to the same experience like no two art<br>producers can be exactly the same. The idea of liberalization of assessment cannot be<br>supported by individual art teacher’s subjective award of grades. There is therefore the<br>need to device more objective criteria for teachers’ assessment of pupils’ artwork.<br>xix<br>1.2 Research Questions:<br>The questions this research seeks to answer are:<br>1. to what extent can the rating scales used by teachers in the description of<br>children’s works be mutually agreeable?<br>2. to what extent will there be any difference in the level of performance of pupil’s by<br>gender?<br>3. to what extent can we achieve comparability of scores in both private and public<br>schools.<br>1.3 The Objective of the Study<br>The major objective of the study was to find out how teachers assess children’s<br>work in creative art.<br>Specific objectives of this study are as follows:<br>(i) To understand or know how teachers assess children’s work in creative art<br>subject.<br>(ii) The study will enable us to assess children’s creative ability in art by gender.<br>(iii) To compare the creative ability of children in public and private schools in<br>creative art and<br>(iv) To suggest or propose a uniform method for assessing children’s work in creative<br>art, for teachers in the primary schools.<br>1.4 Significance of the Study<br>The study will highlight the reliability and validity of assessment scores. This<br>research will help primary school teachers in Kaduna State and indeed Nigeria know<br>xx<br>methods of assessing children’s work. Teachers training institutions offering art at<br>various levels, (nursery, primary/tertiary) and research institutions like universities might<br>find the result of this study useful.<br>Research in art education reported inappropriateness of the criteria used by many<br>art teachers in assessing learners’ art work. The studies of Olorukooba (1992), Mbahi<br>(1999), Ozuagwu (1997), Eisner (2002) have shown that an objective criteria should<br>measure parameters like: originality, complexity and participant attitudes (Challinor,<br>1978). This study will help to re-confirm or otherwise the previous findings in this field.<br>Literature reviewed has shown that research in this area is scanty. It is hoped that<br>the outcome of this study would be useful to other art educators in teaching and research.<br>The effect of teacher’s assessment among boys and girls is of interest to this<br>study. The study would therefore be of significance since curriculum is usually designed<br>for both sexes.<br>This study is of significance because of the opportunities it offers to learners to<br>work and interact with each other and their teachers. Just like the opportunity offered<br>teachers to interact with learners and other teachers Eisner (1999). It is therefore hoped<br>that this study would promote co-operative spirit among learners and teachers.<br>1.5 Basic Assumptions:<br>The following basic assumptions were made of this study:<br>1. The schools used for this study were representative of the type of primary schools<br>in Kaduna State.<br>2. The drawing task presented to the respondents is appropriate for their level as<br>prescribed in their scheme of work.<br>xxi<br>1.6 Delimitation of the Study:<br>The subjects used for the study were primary six pupils randomly drawn from<br>primary schools in Kaduna metropolis. The subjects were drawn from Army Children<br>School (ACS) Cantonment ‘A’, Badarawa II L.G.E.A., Foundation Nursery/Primary<br>School, Maiduguri Road L.G.E.A., Katsina Road L.G.E.A., Sultan Bello L.G.E.A.,<br>Hakda International Nursery/Primary School, Kurmin Mashi L.G.E.A., L.E.A. Primary<br>School Kakuri, Unguwar Maichibi L.G.E.A., L.E.A Kagoro Road, Betty Queen<br>Nursery/Primary School, Jupavi International School, Tendercare Nursery/Primary,<br>Wilson Preparatory and New Breed International School Kaduna.<br>The drawing task was based on 2 – Dimensional art work. A period of 8 weeks<br>was used for the study.<br>1.7 Organization of the study:<br>The study has been organized into 5 Chapters: Chapter I is the introduction, which<br>includes the background and justification of the study, statement of the problem and<br>objectives, and the scope and delimitation of the study. Chapter 2 is the survey of the<br>related literature: which includes: concepts of assessment, types of assessment,<br>assessment process, what to assess in children, purpose of assessment, problems<br>involving children’s assessment in art education, child’s art, methods of assessing<br>children’s art process and product, qualities of good assessment in teaching and learning<br>process, summary/conclusion. Chapter 3 is the procedure with explanation on how the<br>research was designed and carried out and the statistical procedure used. Chapter 4 is the<br>analysis of data resulting from the statistical interpretation and discussion. Chapter 5 is<br>the summary, conclusion and recommendation of the study.<br>xxii <br></p>