IMPLEMENTATION PROBLEMS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL ARTS CURRICULUM IN FINE ARTS, IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

IMPLEMENTATION PROBLEMS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL ARTS CURRICULUM IN FINE ARTS, IN BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Fine Art is one of the core subjects in the Secondary School System in Nigeria.  And the educational goals realizable from art learning cannot be overemphasized.   In-spite of its articulate documentation as enshrined in the National Policy on Education (NPE) and  its general acceptance as a subject to be taught in Secondary Schools, it has the problem of curriculum implementation in most Schools in Benue State.  This study attempts to  X-ray these problems by considering first the content of the curriculum, secondly determine whether or not the implementators of the curriculum are suitably qualified or not and thirdly find out the reasons for the failure in implementation.

The study considered secondary schools in the North East Senatorial Zone of Benue State with a sample size of 600 students, 100 teachers and 30 principals/Deans of Studies.  The questionnaire was face validated by experts and through the use of Crunbach Alpha Technique was administered through direct delivery technique/method.

Amazingly, the results of the study showed that most of the teachers were qualified, however failure in the implementation was due largely to pedagogic methods used in teaching the subject, not being suitable, more so the absence of basic instructional materials/equipment coupled with lack of motivation, encouragement from most school administrators is largely responsible for lack of curriculum implementation of Fine Art as a subject in most secondary schools in Benue State.