Teachers’ Use of Creativity in Teaching Visual Art in Senior

The study is designed to determine the teachers’ use of creativity in teaching visual art in senior secondary schools in Ilorin West LGA, Kwara State . Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population for the study comprised all secondary schools in Kwara state. The sample consisted of one hundred and twenty-six (126) subjects. Purposive sampling technique was used to select all the subjects from 32 senior secondary schools in Ilorin West LGA, Kwara state as sample size of the study. Two instruments on Teachers’ Creativity in Teaching Visual Art (TCTVA), one from students’ responses and the other for the teachers’ responses were developed by the researcher and used to collect the data. Each item of both questionnaires measured the same variable. Four Educational Technology experts with Fine Art background from University of Ilorin validated the instrument for face and content validity. Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistics was used to test reliability of the instruments. Reliability coefficients of 0.88 and 0.74 were obtained for teachers and students questionnaire respectively. Three research questions were raised and two research hypotheses were formulated and tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significant. The result revealed that the originality and adaptation in creativity were rarely used by visual art teachers. Teachers’ mean shows that they used fluency and motivation in creativity sometime. There was significant difference between male and female visual art teachers in the use of creativity. Also, there was significant difference between qualified and unqualified visual art teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended among others that visual art teachers should try to improve on their creativity for effective teaching visual art.


Introduction
Visual art is a fundamental component of the human experience reflecting the world and the time in which we live. Art can help us understand our history, our culture, our lives, and the experience of others in a manner that cannot be achieved through other means. Gomes (2019) opined that Art is a subject that has no substitute. Art is a much broader term that includes visual arts, performing arts, music, dance, poetry and film. Visual arts are termed as the study of ceramics, printmaking, sketching, crafting, painting, textile design, drawing, photography, sculptures, filmmaking, architecture, artworks, as well as documentaries (Fleming, 2010). To learn visual arts, an individual requires long periods of regular practice so they can put their imagination, creative mind, and creativity adequately. Generally speaking, there are five main functions of visual arts: artistic expression, functional, persuasive, ceremonial as well as narrative. Visual arts are used in designing book covers, posters, clothing, apparel, accessories, packaging of food materials and a lot more which is integrated into all communities in our society (Gomes, 2019). This art can be defined as a creative art whose products are to be appreciated by sight in contrast with literature and music. Visual arts are a way of life for a person who learnt and develop a skill. And with this particular skill, the person can earn livelihood. One important vehicle to any meaningful Visual art work is the level of person's creativity (Hedvet, 2022). Alajmi (2012) affirmed that the word creativity is used in our everyday life, creative teacher, creative students and creative art work. Historically, civilizations value inspiration and originality in which the two are products of creativity. Craft (2001) explained four major traditions research on creativity which include the psychoanalytic tradition that is creativity as the sublimation of drives and development which makes creativity central and intrinsic to human nature. The cognitive tradition that is exploration of the associative process, exploration of divergent production of ideas and products. The behaviourist tradition which is discussion of chance mutation in the repertoire of behaviours. And the humanistic tradition that is discussions focused on the self-realising person acting in harmony with their inner needs and potentialities (Zimmerman, 2009). Originality refers to the conventionality (relative to a specific curriculum) of suggested solutions. Fluency refers to pace of solving procedures and switches between difference solutions. Whitelaw (2006) explained that creativity assessment scale of novelty refers to the production of teaching ideas which must be new and uncommon; original means that the ideas must be an original work of the creator without duplicating another person's earlier work; flexibility means the product or the ideas must be seen to be easily applicable to other situations, problems or environment too and fluency means that, many ideas, concepts, interests are catered in the new product (Jeffrey & Woods, 2003). Wilson (2009) stated that teaching visual art creatively means teaching with variations and innovations. Creativity as used in this research means production of new teaching ideas and better ways of teaching techniques, procedures or methods and to design and use instructional materials in teaching of visual arts to foster originality, flexibility, fluency and motivation to make visual arts real to students (Ityavzua et al, 2019). Originality means producing statistically something new that is beyond what is written in books, producing new and innovative ideas that are suitable for a lesson and interesting to students, invention of personal teaching aids and activity to create different design in visual arts. Flexibility as used in this study means the use of different methods and procedures in creativity in visual arts. Motivation as used here refers to intrinsic, task-forced motivation rather than the potential rewards; frequent giving of assignment, class work, marking and giving feedback, organization of practical lessons, use of audio-visuals and computer instructions and starting teaching from simple to complex. Fluency also as used here relates to the continuity of ideas, flow of associations, and use of basic and universal knowledge. Teaching of visual arts topics that are connected, observed planed repetitions in solving problems, relating visual arts topics to real life situations (Ityavzua et al, 2019). Creativity has been used in the past to solve human problems in teaching of visual art. Students in the classroom also need creativity to excel in Visual arts. The level of teacher's qualification may be a major contributor to the attitude of teachers towards creativity. Qualified Teachers understand the importance of creativity in visual art than unqualified Teachers (Shuaibu, 2012). Creative student is a divergent student. He is not conformist to an idea and does not want to be forced into doing what he does not want to be or want. Creative students use their imaginative and critical thinking to create new and meaningful forms of ideas. They are risk takers, they are independent and flexible. They develop the ability to find various solutions to a problem (Dimov, 2018). Nwanko (2018) expressed that the negative beliefs associated with creativity by some individuals is unfortunate. Teachers are not comfortable in the class with such students; thus, place these students at a disadvantage, since their behaviours are most often seen as disruptive and capable of interfering with the classroom lessons (Nwanko, 2018). Zimmerman (2009) noted that the teachers' success using creativity for teaching visual art is determined by their qualification. Hence the need to recruit and utilize professionally qualified visual art teachers in enhancing secondary school students' achievement is essential. This is because, effective teaching is enhanced by welltrained and qualified teachers that use creativity in teaching & learning process. Unqualified teachers that failed to use creativity in teaching and learning process led to consistent poor performance of student in visual art (Umanailo, 2019). Inelmen (2011) noted that creativity is the engines of human progress. It means new forms of original artistic expression as portrayed, for example in visual art, such as graphic, ceramic, painting, drawing, textile, sculpture among others. Since the beginning of time, female and male innovators and creators have transformed world through the power of their imagination. And today new innovations and forms of artistic expression are transforming lives at an unprecedented rate. All the products that are enjoyed today are the result of years of research and development, experimentation and invention. They are all effectively creations of the human mind (WIPO, 2022). Men were considered more creative than women. GATE (2015) assessed men and women's creativity in two fields: Fine Art (a traditionally more masculine field) and Applied Art (a traditionally less masculine field). Even when shown identical work product (e.g. sculpture and ceramic), participants considered the male artist to be more creative than the female artist. The present study examined gender differences in the distribution of creative abilities through the lens of the greater male variability hypothesis, which postulated that men showed greater inter-individual variability than women in both physical and psychological attributes. Societies all around the world have benefited from the work of women inventors, designers and artists. But data show that fewer women than men use the intellectual property system (GATE, 2015). That gender gap matters for a number of reasons, perhaps most importantly because gender equality is a human right and because we are all better off when women and girls are empowered to make their full contribution to innovation and creativity (WIPO, 2022). Christopher and Lora (2012) worked on the role of the visual arts in enhancing the learning process. The study revealed that visual arts is a dynamic cognitive and psychomotor process in which the definition of visual arts is constantly changing in relation to its time.

Statement of the Problem
Visual arts describe those skills that are visible to the human eye, including drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic art, decoration, and later photography and film. The visual arts are the expression of human creativity, a visualization of the way we see life and the world around us. Standing midway between what is perceived and what is believed, they stem from a need to make sense of human existence and explain it, both internally and externally. Study.com (2022) identified some factors affecting teaching of visual art as lack of materials, studio, equipment and parent attitude toward visual art which result to low enrolment and poor performance in visual art. In senior secondary school in Ilorin West local government in Kwara State, the percentage of students that offer visual art were generally low with poor performance. The major factor responsible for low enrolment and poor performance include shortage of qualified visual art teachers, the parents' attitude toward visual art, lack of equipment, materials and standard studio for teaching visual art. Hence, the use of creativity can enhance the performance of visual art students. These arouse the interest of the researcher to determine the teachers' use of creativity in teaching visual art in senior secondary school in Ilorin West LGA, Kwara State

Purpose of the Study
This study is to determine teachers' use of creativity in teaching visual art in senior secondary schools in Ilorin west LGA, Kwara State. Specifically, this study was designed to examine: 1. The level of teachers' creativity in teaching visual art. 2. The differences between male and female teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art. 3. The differences between teachers' qualification in the use of creativity in teaching visual art.

Research Questions
The study sought and provides answer to the following research questions.
1. To what extent do teachers use creativity in teaching visual art? 2. What are the differences between male and female teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art? 3. What are the differences between teachers' qualification in the use of creativity in teaching visual art?

Research Hypotheses
Based on the research questions two and three, the following hypotheses are derived and tested at 0.05 level of significant. Ho1: There is no significant difference between male and female teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art. Ho2: There is no significant difference between qualified and unqualified teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art.

Methodology
The descriptive survey design was adopted in this research. The design was considered useful because it allowed the researcher to investigate a phenomenon and report it as it was, allowing for the use of adequate and appropriate sample to make value judgement (Atunde, 2018). The population of this research was made up of all senior secondary two (SS 2) visual art students and all the visual art teachers in Kwara state. Total sample of the study was one hundred and twenty-six (126) (3) and Often (4) were used. The instruments were validated by four Educational Technology with Fine and Applied Arts background experts for face and content validity. The validated instrument was used to test reliability data. The reliability of the instrument was determined by subjecting it to test retest method. The validated questionnaire was administered within and interval of three weeks on six (6) visual art teachers and fifteen (15) visual art SS 2 students in Asa LGA, Kwara state within the population to determine the reliability coefficient of the instrument. Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistics were used to test reliability of the instruments. The value yielded 0.88 and 0.74 respectively. The instruments were administered personally by the researcher and collected after completion. All the one hundred and twentysix (126) copies of questionnaires administered were collected. The data collected were analyzed. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer research question one, two and three while t-test statistic was used to test hypotheses one and two which were derived from research question two and three. The two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significant.

Research Question One:
To what extent do teachers use creativity in teaching visual art?  The tables revealed that fluency and motivation have higher mean scores 3.17, 3.05 and 3.02 points for both teachers and students. For the adaptation mean scores was 2.95 while the mean score of originality were 3.00 and 2.79 respectively. Students' rating is very close to the criterion mean which shows that the originality and adaptation in creativity were rarely used by visual art teachers. Teachers' mean shows that they used fluency and motivation in creativity sometime which their standard deviation 0.70 and 1.03 respectively.

Research Question Two:
What are the differences between male and female teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art?  Table 3 shows that the male visual art teachers that used creativity had the mean score of 15.58 with standard deviation of 2.62 while female visual art teachers had 11.92 with standard deviation 2.79. This result reveals a difference in the value of mean score between male and female visual art teachers on the use of creativity in teaching visual art.

Research Question Three:
What are the differences between teachers' qualification in the use of creativity in teaching visual art?  Table 4 shows that the qualified visual art teachers that used creativity had the mean score of 15.50 with standard deviation of 2.42 while unqualified visual art teachers had mean score of 10.00 with standard deviation 1.60. This result reveals a difference in the value of mean score between qualified and unqualified visual art teachers on the use of creativity in teaching visual art.

Hypotheses Testing:
The hypotheses one and two were formulated from research question two and three, t-test statistic was used to test the hypotheses one and two at 0.05 level of significant.
Ho1: There is no significant difference between male and female visual art teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art.  Table 5 shows that the calculated significance .000 is less than critical level 0.05, hypothesis 1 is hereby rejected (df=42 : t=4.152:p<0.05). This implies that there was a significant difference between male and female visual art teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art.
Ho2: There is no significant difference between qualified and unqualified visual art teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art.  Table 6 shows that the calculated significance .000 is less than critical level 0.05, hypothesis 2 is hereby rejected (df =42:t=6.107: p<0.05). This implies that there was a significant difference between qualified and unqualified visual art teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art.

Discussion of Result
Research question one is on the extent of visual art teachers' use creativity in teaching visual art. The finding shows that teachers used creativity in teaching visual art. Both the teachers and students agreed the use of creativity assessment scale of adaptation, fluency, motivation and originality were used in teaching visual art by visual art teacher. This finding supports the finding of Ityavzua et al (2019) who stressed that teaching visual art creatively means teaching with variations and innovations. Creativity as used in this research means production of new teaching ideas and better ways of teaching techniques, procedures or methods and to design and use instructional materials in teaching of visual arts to foster originality, flexibility, fluency and motivation to make visual arts real to students. Also, Shuaib 2012 observed that creativity has been used in the past to solve human problems in teaching of visual art. Students in the classroom also need creativity to excel in Visual arts. Whitelaw (2006) explained that creativity assessment scale of novelty refers to the production of teaching ideas which must be new and uncommon; original means that the ideas must be an original work of the creator without duplicating another person's earlier work; flexibility means the product or the ideas must be seen to be easily applicable to other situations, problems or environment too and fluency means that, many ideas, concepts, interests are catered in the new product.
The t-test finding shows that there was significant difference between male and female visual art teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art. The findings on the gender also agreed with the earlier finding of (GATE, 2015) who established that men were considered more creative than women. They also assessed men and women's creativity in two fields: Fine Art (a traditionally more masculine field) and Applied Art (a traditionally less masculine field). Even when shown identical work product (e.g. sculpture and ceramic), participants considered the male artist to be more creative than the female artist. WIPO (2022) stated that the present study examined gender differences in the distribution of creative abilities through the lens of the greater male variability hypothesis, which postulated that men showed greater inter-individual variability than women in both physical and psychological attributes. Societies all around the world have benefited from the work of women inventors, designers and artists. But data show that fewer women than men use the intellectual property system.
The t-test also shows that there was significant difference between qualified and unqualified visual art teachers in the use of creativity in teaching visual art. This finding is in line with the finding of Shuaib (2012) who affirmed that the level of teacher's qualification may be a major contributor to the attitude of teachers towards creativity. Qualified Teachers understand the importance of creativity in visual art than unqualified Teachers. Also, Zimmerman (2009) noted that the success on the use of creativity of students in visual art is closely related to the qualification of the teacher. Hence the need to recruit and utilize professionally qualified visual art teachers in enhancing good performance in senior secondary school is essential. Effective teaching is enhanced by well-trained and qualified teachers that use creativity in teaching & learning process. Unqualified teacher that failed to use creativity in teaching and learning process led to consistent poor performance of student in visual art.

Conclusion
The originality and adaptation in creativity were rarely used by visual art teachers.