By Ekumankama, Ijeoma-oji Onu
The major purpose of the study was to develop a Fashion Illustration Curriculum for Clothing and Textiles programme of Home Economics Education in Nigerian universities. Specifically, the study determined learning objectives, contents (knowledge, skills and attitude), delivery methods, delivery materials and evaluation activities for a fashion illustration curriculum; developed a draft Fashion Illustration Curriculum (FIC) based on the findings from purposes 1-5; validated and revised the draft Fashion Illustration Curriculum based on feedback from the evaluation; the mean ratings of experts on the appropriateness of the Fashion Illustration Curriculum developed in terms of originality, objectivity, format, clarity and adequacy of items and the mean achievement scores of students taught with Fashion Illustration Curriculum as a measure of its' effectiveness for Clothing and Textiles programme of Nigerian universities. Seven research questions and seven hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted Research and Development (R & D) design. The study was undertaken in five phases. The study was carried out in three geo political zones in Nigeria namely, South East, South West, and North Central. The universities in the study area where Home Economics is taught were purposely selected for the study. The population for the study was made up of 1,494 respondents comprising Home Economics lecturers, Fine Arts lecturers, final year students of Home Economics and registered professional garment manufacturers in areas under study that were purposely selected. Data for the research were collected using the following instruments: Fashion Illustration Curriculum Needs Assessment Questionnaire (FICNAQ), a draft Fashion Illustration curriculum (FIC) was developed by the researcher based on data collected from (i), Fashion Illustration Validation Questionnaire (FIVQ), Fashion Illustration Curriculum Test for testing the effectiveness of the developed curriculum (pre test and post test were administered). The instruments FICNAQ, FIVQ, FIC were validated by nine experts from University of Nigeria Nsukka and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. Cronbach’s reliability index was used to determine the internal consistency of the instruments on the data obtained. Data obtained from the pilot test were used for the computation of reliability coefficient which gave an overall coefficient = 0.984 for all the sections. A coefficient of 0.984 is therefore considered high enough and acceptable. This is an indication that the instrument was reliable and consistent in measuring what it was designed to measure. Mean scores, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and t tests were used to analyze the data. Findings from the study included; 27 learning objectives (3.45 ± 0.64), 55 content (3.50 ± 0.72), 8 delivery methods (3.49 ± 0.79), 75 delivery materials (3.44 ± 0.65), 26 evaluation guidelines (3.52 ± 0.64) for assessing students' achievement of the fashion illustration objectives within the Clothing and Textiles programme in Nigerian universities. There are no significant differences (p < 0.05 ) in the mean ratings of responses of Home Economics lecturers (HEL), Fine and Applied Arts lecturers (FAAL) and Clothing Production experts (CPE) in 25 objectives, 53 contents, 2 delivery methods, 63 delivery materials and 25 evaluation guidelines. This implies that the null hypotheses were retained for those items. However, there are significant differences ( p < 0.05 ) in the mean ratings of responses of Home Economics lecturers (HEL), Fine and Applied Arts lecturers (FAAL) and Clothing Production experts (CPE) in two objectives, two contents, six delivery methods, twelve delivery materials and one evaluation guideline. This implies that the null hypotheses were rejected for those items. The Fashion Illustration Curriculum which was validated by lecturers was appropriate in terms of originality, objectivity, clarity and adequacy of items (3.48 ± 0.65). The developed Fashion Illustration Curriculum was found to be effective on Home Economics students at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that Curriculum planners (National Universities Commission) and administrators should utilize the objectives, contents, delivery systems and evaluation guidelines of fashion illustration developed in this study in their review of the current Home Economics programmes in Nigerian universities such that their challenging curriculum will prepare students for realistic employment. Therefore, the research study if adopted by benchmark will address curriculum issues. It is necessary to re-train lecturers of Home Economics in fashion illustration to enable them prepare their students for the challenges in the work force.