Attitudes of Teachers and Students towards Art and Design Curriculum: Implications for Vocational Education in Kenya

Abstract

Art and Design Curriculum taught in secondary schools in Kenya is intended not only to prepare learners for a vocation in Art and Design industry but also to complement literacy, scientific and factual subjects by awakening creativity in the individual. It is part of the government policy of diversification and vocationalization of the curriculum. However, enrolment of students in this subject has gone down to as low as one (1) student in form four classes in some schools. The number of schools offering Art and Design Curriculum has also gone down drastically since the inception of the diversified and vocationalized 8. 4. 4 system of education in Kenya in 1985. The 8 – 4 - 4 system is a structure of education in Kenya with 8 years of primary education, 4 years of secondary education and a minimum of 4 years of University education. The survival of this subject in the Kenyan School Curriculum is therefore worrying to the stakeholders. The attitude of the learners towards a subject of study greatly influences the readiness of learners to take it or perform well in it. This article is based on a study carried out in secondary schools in Nyanza province of Kenya. Objectives of the study were to find out the attitude of Teachers and Students towards Art and Design Curriculum and to determine the differences in attitudes between Teachers and Students. Respondents were 113 students taking Art and Design, 131 students who had dropped Art and Design and 15 teachers of Art and Design Curriculum. The findings of the study revealed that students who had dropped Art and Design Curriculum and Teachers of Art and Design Curriculum had negative attitudes towards the curriculum. Although students taking Art and Design liked the subject their reasons for this were not fully in line with the objectives of the curriculum. Some of the students were taking the subject for merely boosting their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (K. C. S. E) result. Based on these findings, it is recommended that students be given proper career guidance on Art and Design Curriculum. The subject should also be made compulsory in Forms 1 and 2 to give early opportunity to students to identify their talents.