Case Study Of Multiculturalism And Diversity In Art And Design Teaching And Learning In Selected Secondary Schools In Bulawayo

Abstract

This ethnographic study was instituted to investigate how Art and Design teachers conceptualized and implemented the constructs of multiculturalism and diversity in art teaching. It also sought to explore how the constructs impacted on students' practice in studio art. Two art classes deemed multicultural in attributes such as gender, disability, ability, ethnicity, and social status of students, were purposively sampled and investigated. Data were collected qualitatively using in-depth interviews, document analyses arid participant observations. The study revealed that teachers are conscious of the multicultural nature of the student body and made deliberate efforts to be sensitive and responsive to this diversity. It emerged that the mentally handicapped students are potentially creative. Observations also pointed out that cultural backgrounds of students, gender, student abilities, and social backgrounds of students had the most significant influence on choice of curriculum content and methodology by teachers. The study recommended that individual teachers develop their own re-conceptualized theoretical models of multiculturalism and diversity in art teaching and learning that would help guide their classroom operations. Teachers also need to be fluent in a number of discrete cultures so as to address the needs of students from diverse cultures with diverse artistic experiences.