The Growth of Art Education in Benue State Secondary Schools

Abstract:

Fundamentally, art is self expression through visual factors arranged to satisfy the needs of a person. It is a procedure of technique and design for the conveyance of attitudes, ideas or personalised feelings in visual form. From various considerations on the subject, art is a human endeavour which requires skills. However, art as important as enumerated above had its share of problem of growth in Benue State Secondary Schools. The major problems are lack of adequate manpower, materials, poor funding and the general negative attitude of some cultures and even government towards the subject. Furthermore, materials and infrastructure to gainfully involve those in the education sector of art in most cases are lacking. This research is poised to determine the growth of art education in Benue State Secondary Schools and the extent to which it has achieved the objective of equipping students to live effectively in this modern age of science and technology. The research design used for this study was survey method. The study was conducted in Benue State, using 500 selected art professionals, drawn randomly from among the art teachers in Benue State Secondary Schools, Staff of Benue State Art Council, Benue State Ministry of Education Staff, Staff of National Gallery of Art in Benue State and other private art professionals in Benue State. These people were the source of the data collected and used for this study; they thus formed the sample size. One questionnaire instrument as well as one model question guide for personal interview were developed, validated and used for data collection. The instrument (questionnaire) was administered on the sample subjects and their responses collected. The percentage recovery of the questionnaire on the subject was 87%. The researcher also personally interviewed some 50 other art professionals who responded variously. After a careful collation and analysis of the data using simple percentage to provide answers to the research questions, the rate of the development and the growth of art in Benue State Secondary Schools was traced and determined. The result of the study indicates that there is a significant growth in the teaching and learning of art education in Benue State Secondary Schools. It is further clear from the study that teachers who use appropriate art materials for instruction have their students’ attention, perform better than teachers who do not use appropriate art material in the classroom. From teachers’ responses, most of those who use art materials in teaching had a sense of relief and job satisfaction. Where art materials are lacking, teachers became exhausted from talking in attempt to explain certain art concepts to students. Teachers who do not use appropriate art materials in the classes find teaching a herculean task; this affects the assimilation process of the students. It is discovered that the lack of art materials lead to waste of quality time and energy, the outcome is discovered to affect learning and teaching of the subject negatively thus impeding on the growth and development of art education in Benue State Secondary Schools.