Factors affecting low ceramics specialization decisions within the KNUST Industrial Art degree programme

Abstract

Abstract This article looked at the trend of specialization within the four-year Industrial Art degree programme at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. Specialization decisions during the period 1999–2011 were studied, which confirmed that ceramics receives low specialization after the first-year diagnostic studies. The Social Learning Theory provided the framework for the study to explore factors that influence students of the Industrial Art department in low ceramics majoring as compared to the other disciplines (textiles design and metals product design). Findings showed that there is a significant association between studying ceramics in high school and students’ decision to specialize in ceramics at the university level. The results obtained from the odds ratio (OR) further indicated that if students are taught ceramics in high school, then they are 115.96 times more likely to specialize in the course at the university level. The study also revealed using the logistic regression that the course content satisfaction and other explanatory variables such as age, gender and location influenced decisions. The findings of the study strongly support the idea of background student motivation and the need for teaching that is exploratory, practice focused, problem centred and process oriented to motivate first-year students in majoring in ceramics.