Creative Art Education “A Must Have”

Capital isn’t so much important in the start of a business. Experience isn’t so important. You can get both of these things. What is important is creative ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need in the pursuit of any venture, and there isn’t any limit to what you can do with your prospective future and your life.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes and Art is knowing which ones to keep and the ones to learn from. Creativity, as has being said, consists largely of rearranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know. Hence, to think creatively, one has to look afresh at what he/she normally take for granted.

Creative Art Education is one of the most effective ways to foster creative thinking in pupils in order to face this competitive and dynamic world of ours. It is grouped into music, creative movement, writing and performing art.

A more unique benefits of creative art education includes high enrollment in schools, training or development of a child’s domains, improvement of artistic talents and visual imaginations, creative art such as dance is noted to decrease stress and improve mobility, writing has also been shown to help people control their emotions, it helps pupils practice problem solving and innovation – two skills necessary to any desirable entrepreneur. With all these benefit elaborated, I only want people to understand that art education isn’t just about doing art for art sake but it’s about developing skills for careers and lifelong learning.

In a breath, there is a need to intensify the studies of Creative Art Education in the country and work together with a goal as to curb the crisis confronting the teaching and learning of the subject. If we accept as is recognized nowadays that creativity is a “universal function” existing in us, and then it is for education to set this function into motion.

Will this motion be manifested if the subject is in crisis?

The crisis confronting the teaching and learning of Creative Art Education needs to be given the needed attention and curbed. Some of these numerous challenges are:

Poor Methodology: As a creative art teacher in a Basic school, I have realized that the methods and strategies employed by my fellow teachers and instructors are not appropriately used. This does not breed better understanding of the concept and does not have the required impact on the leaner.

Inadequate Teaching and Learning Materials: Creative Art Education cannot be efficiently taught and learnt if there is inadequate teaching and learning materials that will facilitate the teaching and learning of creative art in the basic schools, more importantly the government schools. Tools and materials that are needed for the actual works are funded by the class teacher or the pupils themselves.

This makes the teaching of this subject unattractive. This sad scenario is serving as an obstacle to maximizing the prospects of Creative Art Education.

Large Class: In areas where the class size is huge, with 60 or 70 students to a single class. This creates a limited time to teach and practice what has been learnt in the class. This huge class also does not help to ensure maximum participation and this in the long vein turns to be a disadvantage to the study. Only a few students benefits from such class.

Negative Perception of the Study: many female teachers and students have it that creative art is a male-dominated subject. This serves as an impediment. This perception is wrong and must be the responsibility of the Ministry of Education (M.o.E) to campaign and educate the general public and most importantly the students on the needs to study the subject. Scholarship schemes could even be packaged to motivate females’ students who excel in the subject in various districts across the country.

Inadequate and Poor Textbooks for Study: there is no doubt as to the effectiveness of a teaching and learning process and pupils textbook and teachers guide is indispensable to the classroom teacher and learner as these are the basic reference materials that are to facilitate the teaching and learning of creative art in schools. Most importantly the textbooks available in the public schools are completely outmoded and not up to standard.

I recommend that, in curbing this scenario the government needs to invest in creative art education, train more qualified teachers who will handle the course with more requisite skills and enthusiasm, built more schools and resource centers for the study, provision of good and well elaborated course textbooks for the pupils to use, creation of scholarship packages only to mention a few.

It is an undeniable fact that if these suggested recommendations are been put into recognition, the teaching and learning of creative art in our public schools will be enhanced as the saying goes, every child is born an artist but the true artist is the one who actually grows with it.

Derrick Akwasi Brobbey

(Offinso College of Education, Offinso)

[email protected]