Enhancing student teacher’s art and craft skills Competence through practical instruction at Arua Core PTC in Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to improve student teacher‟s Art and Craft skills and competence through practical instruction at Arua Core Primary Teachers‟ College (ACPTC) in Arua District. At the end of the Integrated Practical Skills (IPS) course particularly in Art and Craft, students cannot start their Art studios to earn a living. This was attributed to teaching and learning approaches at the college, which were theoretical; making learners passive and incompetent. To address this challenge, research objectives were centered on; establishing factors affecting practical instruction for Art and Craft skills competence at Arua Core PTC, identifying strategies that enhance the teaching of practical instruction for Art and Craft skills competence, implementing the identified strategies for enhancing practical instruction for Art and Craft skills competence and evaluating the implemented strategies for enhancing practical instruction for Art and Craft skills competence at Arua Core PTC. This was an Action-based research and of which participatory approaches with descriptive research design were used. The researcher employed interviews, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), work process analysis, future workshop and observation for collecting data. 17 respondents were purposively selected for the study. At the initial stages of this study, stakeholders identified limited practical instruction as the most outstanding hindrance to students‟ arts and craft skills competence through future workshop. Together with the stakeholders of Arua Core PTC, several factors causing limited practical instruction in Art and craft were identified of which; limited instructional materials, inappropriate method of teaching, poor knowledge of learner‟s environment, congested curriculum, poor motivation and time consumption emerged as the most outstanding. Strategies to address the causes were generated, implemented and evaluated. These included among others; organizing practical lessons every weekend, carrying out competence self-exercise at the end of every course unit, motivation of both teachers and students, provision of instructional materials, organizing network meetings, peer observation, use of daily attendance register for both tutors and students. It was strongly recommended that the Art and craft department in Arua Core PTC should start income-generating projects like graphics, fabric design, and ceramics among others for stocking teaching and learning materials. This will motivate learners and improve on practical instruction in Art and craft besides equal time allocated for the entire subject in PTC. Assessment should be carried out by the Director of Industrial Training (DIT) for skills competence and End of course exams by Kyambogo University