Enhancing technical drawing skills practice of students in Uganda: A Case of Anyavu Secondary School-Arua District

Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to assess and provide strategies for improving the performance of secondary school students in technical drawing and to find out the impediments to effective teaching and learning of the subject in Uganda. The study objectives were; to design a training template to enhance technical drawing skills practice, to implement the training template guidelines, to evaluate the implemented training guidelines. The study adopted the Participatory Action Research (PAR) design which is a qualitative research methodology that strives to improve understanding of a problem, with the intent of contributing to the solution of that problem. The study was conducted in Anyavu secondary school in Anyavu parish Arua district. The data collection process was initiated through directed vocational studies processes to identify the underlying issues of the effective teaching and learning of technical drawing. The stakeholders consisted of thirteen (13) students offering technical drawing, seven (07) teachers of various areas of specialization, and one (01) administrator. The study used value-chain production process to analyze work process in the School. Content analysis was used to logically analyze the data which were gathered from directed vocational studies, documentary analysis, observation, situation analysis, and Future Workshop (FW). Findings revealed that practical time needed for effective teaching and learning was a key issue that contributed to poor performance in technical drawing. Stakeholders recommended that there should be enough time allocated for teaching and practicing technical drawing skills which had been suffocated by limited time provision in the school syllabus and timetable. Technical drawing being practical needs adequate teaching and learning materials, government, partnering agencies and school administrators should provide enough resources in schools offering practical subjects like technical drawing.