Access to Fine Arts Education and its Influence on Cultural Capital and Academic Engagement in Marginalized Communities of South-west Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria’s educational system is struggling with uneven distribution of educational resources, infrastructure, and structured extra-curricular opportunities across various field of study which is subjective across distinct regions and social class of her inhabitants. These have reflected in students’ academic mind-set, experience, and attitude towards learning. Contextually, the education in south-western states such as Lagos and Ogun political zones demonstrate a systemic bias towards science-based subjects over art, commerce and other intellectual creative agencies. The priorities on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects over art and commerce is what create a “curricular hierarchy” where students living and schooling in underserved communities are mentally steered away from creative disciplines that are capable of yielding positives outcomes in their lives. The study investigates two (n=2) public senior secondary schools each, found in marginalized communities of Lagos and Ogun states across Ojo and Agbara Local Government Areas (LGA). Data collection was conducted using qualitative “dyadic” interviews involving paired senior secondary school fine art teachers and students i.e. one (n=1) teacher to one (n=1) student was selected as pairs for the interview, through purposive sampling of the teacher’s academic qualification and the student’s academic track record in the subject. Thematic codes were generated and analysed to identify recurring patterns between the systemic pressures and aspiration towards incorporating structured Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) into the traditional methods of teaching fine arts. The findings indicate that culturally sustaining pedagogy can improve student engagement. Hence, the study concludes that to redress these disparities, Nigerian Educational and Research Development Council (NERDC) should consider restructuring the curriculum contents by reallocating Eurocentric art history towards our indigenous knowledge. Furthermore, it is imperative that the ministry of education ensures to formalize the policy benchmarks mandating, dedicated to funding of public-school art studios in order to eliminate gaps in resources, and also ensure that that the system integrates intrinsic Art-preneurial Economics (AP-EC) to provide youths with profitable vocational skills. Lastly, deploy mandatory Teacher Professional Development (TPD) that focuses on Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP).

Keywords: Fine Arts Education, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Cultural Capital, Marginalized Communities, Educational Inequality, South-west Nigeria.