Visual arts education for learners with special educational needs: Case study of Tetteh Ocloo state school for the deaf

Formal education becomes most authentic, inclusive, and learner-centred when Art is at its forefront. The Arts provide learners with authentic learning experiences that engage their minds, hearts, hands, and entire bodies. The general relevance of Art education for learners with special educational needs has been variously and solidly argued by previous studies. However, much is not known about the creative artefacts of learners with special educational needs. The focus of this qualitative case study was to artistically appreciate selected visual artefacts produced by hearing-impaired pupils of Tetteh Ocloo State School for the Deaf located at Adjei-Kojo, a suburb of Accra in Ghana. Adopting triangulation of instruments (semi-structured interviews, field observation & photography), the study gathered in-depth data from sixteen (16) purposively sampled respondents with findings analysed using qualitative descriptive tenets. The study ascertained that the Creative Arts subject is dedicatedly taught in Tetteh Ocloo State School for the Deaf by Art specialist teachers. As a result, the study observed that the hearing-impaired primary pupils of Tetteh Ocloo State School for the Deaf were able to produce intriguing Visual artefacts (ranging from drawings/painting, clay work & papercraft). Aesthetic appreciation of some of the artefacts revealed that the works represent the oral accounts of the pupils’ worldview of salient experiences in their immediate social and physical environments. It is recommended that the Art specialist teachers of Tetteh Ocloo State School for the Deaf should continue to teach the Creative Arts subject with dedication as this would nurture and inculcate the needed creative, innovative, and inventive skills onto the pupils for responsible adulthood.