Influence of Art Teachers’ Operational Competence on Students’ Art Learning Achievemen

This study examines the influence of art teachers’ operational competence on students’ art learning achievement, using Clustered Students Teaching (CST) approach. Through the exploration of existing relevant literature, the study categorizes the key aptitudes that form an art teacher’s competence and with that, a Model of Aptitudes in Art Teachers’ Operational Competence (MATCo) was developed. Test One of the study tested art teachers’ operational competence through an assessment of practical art-teaching class; to assess art teaching skills of the teachers, while Test Two involved data gathering through a Study-Specific Questionnaire on Art Teachers’ Competence (SSQATOCo), consisting of thirty items generated from the objectives. The sample for the study consists of five (5) visual art teachers with Masters’ degree in Visual arts and one hundred (100) Senior Secondary School Visual art students, selected from five (5) schools within Badagry Township who were systematically grouped into 5 clusters. Data gathered was statistically tested using the Chi-square at 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study reveal that competence in art theory, art practice and instructional methodology are key aptitudes of an art teacher, that not all art teachers have required competence, and that incompetence in these key aptitudes account for the reason why students’ art learning achievement is low. Recommendations are made based on the findings.