The perceptions of Teacher Trainers and Trainees on creative arts Teacher Education Curriculum in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceptions of teacher trainers and trainees on Creative Arts teacher education curriculum in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to; establish the perceptions of teacher trainers and trainees on objectives, content, learning activities, resources and assessment methods of Creative Arts teacher education curriculum in Kenya. This study drew inspiration from Tyler’s Objective-Centered Model. The philosophical stance adopted was pragmatic paradigm. The study adopted the mixed methods research design. These involved integrating the qualitative and quantitative approaches. Under this design both the qualitative and quantitative data were collected concurrently, analyzed separately and then merged for interpretation of overall results. This study targeted Creative Arts teacher trainees and trainers. The researcher used stratified and simple random sampling techniques to select the study sample. Data was collected by the use of questionnaires and interview schedules. The computer program used was the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. Data analysis was done by the use of descriptive statistics whereby frequencies and percentages were calculated. The findings from the study showed that teacher trainees and trainers perceived objectives of Creative Arts were relevant in handling diversity and nurturing individual talents among others. Teacher trainees and trainers were dissatisfied with the practical integration in curriculum implementation. The Creative Arts content was relevant in terms of skills such as singing and template patterning among others but they lacked practical orientation in teaching. The findings further showed that they perceived activities such as performing in music and carving among others were relevant but inadequate and the few available lacked practical integration. The findings revealed that teacher trainees and trainers perceived resources such as song repertoire and audio-visuals among others relevant to their needs but inadequate. The study further showed that teacher trainees and trainers’ assessment techniques such as written exercises and oral questions among others were relevant to their needs but inadequate. The study made the following recommendations, that the creative arts curriculum for primary teacher education should be reframed so as to give pre-service teachers needed practical skills in teaching creative arts disciplines; there was need to use a practical approach to teaching so that trainees could actually actualize their needs; to set aside adequate space so that the content which was perceived to be adequate could be taught more practically; curriculum developers to avail more time for the teaching of specific arts so that trainees could be able to master them; parental and community support could also go a long way in helping cover the content. The activities used to teach Creative Arts though relevant requires to be given a more practical grounding so that trainers can acquire and internalize the intended skills. The creative arts curriculum had suggested very relevant resources for use, therefore, colleges should endeavor to provide these resources and replace those that are obsolete. Emphasis should be put on teaching the subject in a more practical way that can allow practical oriented evaluation techniques to be used for purposes of trainees’ development of practical skills. It is my hope that the results of this study will be useful to pre-service teachers, teacher trainers, policy makers and researchers, especially those whose studies are to design the teacher education Creative Arts curriculum for relevance to learner and societal needs.