SKILL IMPROVEMENT NEEDS OF CLOTHING AND TEXTILES EDUCATORS IN THE CONSTRUCTION FEATURES OF GARMENTS IN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS OF ABIA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated skill improvement needs of clothing and textile education in the construction features of a garment in Tertiary institutions in Abia State. Four specific purposes guided the study. The population for the study was 25 clothing lecturers drawn from various institutions. There was no sampling because all the clothing lecturers were used for the study. Structured questionnaire were used titled “SINCTE” meaning skill improvement needs of clothing and textile education” and focus Group Discussion were used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was established using cronbach Alpha method and a coefficient of 0.87 was obtained. The result of the study revealed that for construction features of darts: some samples of waist darts, bust, shoulder, neck and under arm were made, 19 garment construction procedures: for darts, make pattern lines, pin and tack the darts; for hems, turn about 1cm of the raw edge down. Ten problems for accessing the details include: Lack of practical skills, lack of money, lack of practical laboratory, among others. From the findings, recommendations were made which include. All clothing lecturers should devote their time on the construction of clothing features and that clothing lecturers should check the skills exhibited by student individually and in stages.