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ETA 9 (2) pp. 205–218 Intellect Limited 2013
International Journal of Education through Art
Volume 9 Number 2
© 2013 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/eta.9.2.205_1
Keywords
specialization decisions
ceramics
Department of
Industrial Art
high school location
introductory ceramics
course
samuel Nortey, Kwasi opoKu-amaNKwa aNd
edwiN K. Bodjawah
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
Factors affecting low
ceramics specialization
decisions within the KNust
industr ial art degree
programme
aBstract
This article looked at the trend of specialization within the four-year Industrial Art
degree programme at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
(KNUST), Ghana. Specialization decisions during the period 1999–2011 were
studied, which confirmed that ceramics receives low specialization after the first-
year diagnostic studies. The Social Learning Theory provided the framework for
the study to explore factors that influence students of the Industrial Art depart-
ment in low ceramics majoring as compared to the other disciplines (textiles design
and metals product design). Findings showed that there is a significant associa-
tion between studying ceramics in high school and students’ decision to specialize
in ceramics at the university level. The results obtained from the odds ratio (OR)
further indicated that if students are taught ceramics in high school, then they are
115.96 times more likely to specialize in the course at the university level. The study
also revealed using the logistic regression that the course content satisfaction and