TEACHING AND PROMOTION CREATIVITY IN SEWING AMONG VOCATIONAL SKILLS STUDENTS OF FOUR COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN THE ASHANTI REGION OF GHANA

ABSTRACT

This study surveys teaching and promotion of creativity in sewing among Vocational Skills students in the Colleges of Education in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The study used descriptive survey design because of its relevance to the study.  Simple random sampling technique was used to select 120 students from four Colleges of Education and eight tutors who were purposively sampled from the four Colleges of Education for the study. Two sets of self-designed questionnaires were used to collect data from both students and tutors. The data collected with both questionnaires were analysed using SPSS, version 16.0 and descriptive statistics in a form of frequencies and percentages were computed. The computed results were presented using tabular data format for discussions in chapter four. The findings of the study revealed that most of the tutors perceived that majority of their students display original ideas for product development, fluent in idea generation and development, experiment with ideas and have a good sense of humour. The study also showed that the major challenges of both tutors and students were that tutors do not create an environment free of criticisms to enable students to actively participate in classroom activities. Tutors do not teach with enough Teaching-Learning Materials (TLMs) during instruction period. Both tutors and students suggested that provision of teaching-learning materials, engaging students in practical activities and use of field trips can help students to develop their creative abilities and potentials to the fullest. It must be concluded that the elaborate detail and intricate of dressmaking/sewing required an enormous amount of painstaking and creativity. It is recommended that for the students to develop their creativity to their maximum there is the need for materials to be provided to enable the students to engage in practical activities and assignments.