Factors that determine students' and teachers' attitudes towards art and design curriculum

Abstract

Art and Design is one of the vocational subjects in the secondary school curriculum. Its implementation has not been impressive owing to a steady decline in enrolment of students, students dropping the subject at different levels in secondary schools and general low priority given to the subject in schools. Many schools are not willing to offer the subject because most learners seem to be less interested in it. However, no study has been undertaken to establish the factors that determine students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards Art and Design Curriculum. The purpose of the study was to establish the factors that determine teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards Art and Design Curriculum. The study was carried out in public secondary schools in Nyanza Province of Kenya and the sample included 113 students and 15 teachers. Simple random sampling was used to select 131 students out of 439 who had dropped Art and Design curriculum. The study found that schools lacked materials, equipment and facilities; the subject was expensive to implement and the time allocated for Art and Design was too short to handle the practical. It is recommended that the ministry of education should reconsider the initial objectives of vocational education in secondary schools in Kenya, recruit more Art and Design teachers, equip schools with Art and Design facilities and increase time allocation for Art and Design lessons.