Project Abstract

<p> </p><p>Every nation requires sustainable development to cater for its people<br>and growing economy. Nigeria is not exempted from this trend. The<br>fact is that human resources form any established sustainable<br>development. This implies that the place of teachers cannot be overemphasized<br>in the teaching-learning process. In Nigeria, it appears<br>that the teaching of art in Junior Secondary schools faces a lot of<br>setbacks not only in infrastructural facilities, equipment, tools and art<br>materials but also in the area of under-employment of trained Art<br>teachers in schools. This incident may have resulted in students’ lack<br>of interest in offering Fine Arts at Senior Secondary level. Due to the<br>important role that Art plays in general education, it is important to<br>see that this subject is taught well at Junior Secondary level. To<br>achieve this, both qualified and adequate number of Art teachers<br>becomes necessary. This study “Availability and Adequacy of Art<br>Teachers in Junior Secondary Schools in Abuja Municipal Area<br>Council, Nigeria” therefore, has specific objectives of assessing the<br>availability of Art teachers compared to the number of students<br>offering Fine Arts at the Junior Secondary level; determine what<br>needs to be done to solve the problem of inadequacy of Art teachers in<br>the area of study, among others. Survey research design will be<br>employed in this study with two test instruments; Test of Availability of<br>art teachers questionnaire” to be administered among Art teachers<br>and “Test to buttress the data collected through art teachers. The data<br>generated from the study will be analyzed using simple percentages<br>and recommendations made from emerging results.</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <br><p></p>

Project Overview

<p> INTRODUCTION<br>1.1 Background of the Study<br>Art as a subject has long been accepted and included in the<br>Nigerian school curriculum. This is dated back to 1922 and that was<br>the effort of Aina Onabolu, the first art teacher in the country who<br>started teaching art in some primary schools in Lagos unofficially<br>after developing art skills through private practices. He later obtained<br>a diploma in art in London and started teaching art officially on return<br>to Nigeria.<br>As a result of students’ growing interest in the subject, Aina<br>Onabulu appealed to the Government of Nigeria to employ the<br>services of some foreign art teachers and this led to the coming of<br>Kenneth C. Murray and Dennis Duerden. Their commitment to the<br>teaching of art gave rise to the establishment of art centres in Lagos,<br>Ibadan, Umuahia and Zaria. Ever since, there has been growing turn<br>out of art teachers from our schools. These teachers are expected to<br>teach either in the primary, secondary or tertiary institutions.<br>The focus of this work is to investigate the availability, which is in terms<br>of employed art teaching staff and the adequacy thereof, which is in<br>14<br>terms of the quantity of such art teachers in Junior Secondary Schools in<br>Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC). National Policy on Education<br>(1989:16) states that “Secondary education is the form of education<br>children receive after primary stage”.<br>This makes it necessary to examine the purpose of art teacher<br>education with the view of establishing whether their services are<br>adequately utilized in Junior Secondary Schools in Abuja Municipal<br>Area Council (AMAC) where art is taught with large student-population<br>records. The study will reveal the worth of art teachers in this area and<br>consider, whether they are adequate enough to enhance art teaching and<br>learning for practical utility. Kanu (1994:104) posits that the relevant<br>Junior Secondary School teacher therefore has:<br>i. Clear understanding of the school system within a community<br>context;<br>ii. Sound understanding of her teaching subject content<br>and process skills;<br>iii. Understanding of the rational, assumption;<br>iv. and practices of contingency implementation model in<br>the context of her teaching area;<br>v. Sound understanding of practical implication for teaching area of<br>the principal of evaluation by continuous assessment.<br>15<br>The task of finding out whether the present art teaching staff in<br>Abuja Municipal Area Council Junior Secondary Schools are achieving<br>the stipulated art teaching objectives is a pressing need.<br>In Nigeria today, art teaching in Junior Secondary Schools faces a<br>lot of setback. These setbacks are not only in shortage of infrastructural<br>facilities, equipment, tools and art materials, but also in the area of underemployment<br>of art teachers in the schools. This incident may have resulted<br>in students’ lack of interest in offering art at Senior Secondary level.<br>Talabi (1979:2) believes that:<br>The art of the adolescent reveals the undeveloped mind of<br>the child in so far as the subject has not grown with him from<br>childhood. At school certificate level, the sixth-form<br>child often produced “child art”. At this level art becomes<br>selective and very few continue for the final certificate<br>examination.<br>It should be observed that when students who are expected to form<br>the nation’s future man-power are not motivated enough to acquire art<br>skills for necessary uses, the development patterns art could offer will be<br>manifestly lacking. Obviously, Nigeria is in dire need of sustainable<br>development to care for its people and growing economy.<br>The fact remains that it is human resources or man power<br>availability that will bring about the expected sustainable development.<br>Thus, it becomes important to know whether the art teachers in the area<br>of study are in tune with Information and Communication Technology<br>16<br>(ICT). Ajayi in National Commission on Colleges of Education (NCCE,<br>2001:162,163) publication states that:<br>The goal of IT-compliance is necessary to Address some of the traditional<br>problems of conventional education system such as:<br>1. Inadequate teaching/learning facilities such as classrooms, libraries<br>and laboratories;<br>2. Shortage of quality teachers<br>3. Inadequate instructional materials.<br>4. High cost and capital intensive nature of Conventional educational<br>system.<br>If the above skill is found to be lacking among art teachers in the<br>area of study, it then becomes mandatory on the Government and other<br>stakeholders in the education sector to create appropriate avenues for art<br>teachers to be duly abreast with modern technology. Such expressive and<br>problem solving skill acquired through Information and Communication<br>Technology (ICT) services, invariably, will make art education more<br>functional and will further contribute to the national development need.<br>With this in place, learners will also leave the school better<br>equipped to live sustainably through art projects or find other artrelated<br>courses such as architecture, engineering and other art-related<br>courses easier at tertiary education level. UNDP (2004) according to<br>Chikwe (2007:6) amongst others defines sustainable human<br>development as:<br>17<br>Development that not only generates<br>economic growth but its benefits equitably;<br>that generates environment rather than<br>marginalizing them. It is development that<br>gives priority to the poor, enlarging their<br>choices and opportunities and providing for<br>their participation in decisions that affect their<br>lives. It is development that is pro-nature, projobs<br>and pro-women.<br>Due to the important role which art plays in general education, it is<br>important to see that this subject is well taught in Junior Secondary<br>School level of education. To achieve this, both qualified and adequate<br>number of art teachers becomes necessary.<br>1.2 Statement of the Problem<br>This academic process essentially is meant to investigate<br>“Availability and Adequacy of Art teachers in Junior Secondary Schools<br>in Abuja Municipal Area Council, Nigeria”. There has been growing<br>concern on how Art teachers have abandoned the imparting of this noble<br>body of knowledge on the younger generation. In recent publications<br>which include daily tabloid and scholarly books, this concern has become<br>very obvious.<br>Talabi acknowledges the lack of enough qualified teachers in our post<br>primary schools. Talabi is not alone in this position. Uzoagba and Ogboji<br>corroborated Talabi’s statement.<br>This study is however concerned with the stream of problems this<br>may raise. The few teachers we have in Junior Secondary Schools have<br>18<br>reduced the interest of the present generation of students. A lot of<br>vocations and academic pursuits that require the contribution of art<br>knowledge are already in despair following the lack in art education.<br>Previously, students aiming to be architects, designers and allied<br>professions find art subject fundamental. Indeed, the knowledge and the<br>role art education plays in various professions cannot be overemphasized.<br>On its own as a subject, art education is a source of entertainment and<br>pleasure. It follows that the nation’s entertainment industry will suffer it<br>dearly in the event of art teachers not training or reproducing those with<br>such rare attributes. The study has made adequate data available to justify<br>the essence of this investigation and offer solution.<br>1.3 Objectives of the Study<br>The aims of this study include: to<br>i. Assess the availability of art teachers compared to the number of<br>students offering Art at Junior Secondary level.<br>ii. Examine if the Art teachers have opportunities for continuous<br>improvement in their chosen profession.<br>iii. Examine whether the students are motivated enough to develop<br>interest in doing art at Senior Secondary School level.<br>iv. Examine whether art materials and modern technological<br>equipment for art teaching and learning are available and adequate<br>in the Junior Secondary Schools.<br>19<br>v. Determine what need to be done to curb the trend on inadequate art<br>Teachers in Junior Secondary Schools.<br>1.4 Scope of the Study<br>The scope of this study: Availability and Adequacy of Art<br>Teachers in Junior Secondary Schools in Abuja Municipal Area<br>Council has a defined target. This investigation is carried out not<br>within the entire Abuja but specified area – Municipal Area<br>Council. Therefore, places under the Federal Capital Territory but<br>outside the: Abuja Municipal Area Council” would not be counted<br>as part of the exercise.<br>Aside the geographical scope, the study recognizes reasons why<br>the teaching of the subject had suffered a set back. Yet, it however,<br>wishes to streamline its analyses on the proportion of art teachers<br>compared to the students’ population in the Junior Secondary Schools,<br>available opportunities of art teachers improving their skills, facilities<br>both for motivating teachers and enhancing teaching and learning in these<br>schools.<br>In this same vein, the exercise is interested in the effect of this<br>problem on the lower part of the post – primary school.<br>1.5 Significance of the Study<br>Teachers, students, school administrators, curriculum planners and<br>Ministry of Education may benefit immensely from the result of this<br>20<br>study. The findings of the study will expose art teachers to new<br>techniques in this technological era. It will also serve as a motivational<br>factor to art teachers towards continuous studio practices for exhibitions,<br>income generation and participation in workshops and seminars.<br>The rich art experiences and benefits of art skills revealed from the<br>study may attract more students to the study of art at senior secondary<br>and tertiary levels. Studies in art enhance preparation for social<br>responsibilities as well as develop in learners’ appropriate abilities and<br>skills for effective social living. In this way, social behaviour and<br>attitudes of Nigerians may be improved, with them appreciating the<br>importance of unity and peaceful coexistence among the diverse ethnic<br>nationalities in Nigeria. Thus, in the long run, students can develop<br>positive values, appreciate our cultural heritage and shun attitudes that<br>are inimical to national image internationally.<br>School administrators will also benefit from the findings of the<br>study as they will further gain insight into the role of art teachers and the<br>importance of art education in the teaching and learning of other subjects<br>in schools. Such insight may lead them to fully utilize the services of art<br>teachers, who will subsequently contribute to the general success [of the<br>school administration by their involvement in artistic design and<br>beautification efforts.<br>21<br>The findings of this study will assist the curriculum experts to<br>articulate essential qualities and responsibilities necessary in 21st century<br>art teachers. It will also reveal new methods, skills and recommend<br>values to art teachers for emphasis in teaching-learning encounter.<br>Both the Federal and State Ministries of Education will also benefit<br>from the study as the findings will further enlighten them on the art<br>teachers’ competencies and their role in shaping students for national<br>development. They will also find this work useful as it will enhance her<br>knowledge of the needs of the schools in terms of employment of more<br>qualified and dedicated art teachers, organizing refresher courses for<br>them and provision of art studios and equipment. It will also enhance the<br>interest of potential candidates for supervisory functions especially as<br>what is required of the art teachers are readily available through the<br>findings of this investigation.<br>1.6 Research Questions<br>The following research questions are to be among others in the study:<br>1. To what extent are the vital human and material resources for art<br>teaching and learning available?<br>2. How frequent do art teachers in your school attend art workshops<br>and seminars?<br>22<br>3. To what extent do art teachers in your school use modern<br>technological devices such as computers, projectors, internet and<br>slides in teaching art?<br>4. How many students offer art at Senior Secondary School level<br>5. after Junior Secondary School education in art?<br>1.7 Definition of terms<br>Availability: Able to be got, obtained or employed, eligible, qualified<br>and meeting the required standard<br>Adequacy: Enough and sufficient in quantity and quality to meet a<br>need<br>Art Teacher: A person who studied art as a course of study and is<br>certified to teach it. In Nigeria, the basic qualification of an art<br>teacher is Nigeria Certification in Education (NCE).<br>Junior Secondary School: The lower part of post primary school. In<br>Nigeria, it includes classes one to three, that is JS1-3.<br>Abuja Municipal Area Council: One of the six Area Councils in the<br>Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Nigeria. It seats the Federal<br>Government house named “Aso Rock or Villa”.<br>Material Resources: Equipment meant to enhance knowledge in any<br>field of study. <br></p>