Making Competence Visible: A Qualitative Case Study of Children’s Drawings Transformed into Wearable Art in a Ghanaian Montessori School

Abstract Inclusive early education widely promotes low-cost, hands-on creative practices, yet little qualitative research in Ghana examines how the adults closest to children understand them. This interpretive case study examines how parents and Montessori guides made sense of a short program at a Ghanaian Montessori school in which 22 children transferred drawings onto T-shirts using inexpensive iron-on heat-transfer materials. Data included semi-structured interviews with 15 parents and 5 guides, children's comments recorded during the program, and researchers' field notes. Using reflexive thematic analysis informed by Social Cognitive Theory, Experiential Learning Theory, and Montessori concepts, the study developed an overarching theme, making competence visible, and five supporting themes: making as structured thinking; ownership and pride; managing difficulty; being seen through recognition without ranking; and the shirt as a bridge between school and home. A sixth theme captured tensions and implementation conditions, including instructional time, material cost, heat-source supervision, uneven fine-motor scaffolding, product comparison, and parents' initial focus on the finished shirt. Accounts were predominantly favorable, though reservations tempered this positive interpretation. The analysis refines the framework by identifying children's narration of their own making as a way to make learning legible to families and by showing how Montessori features, including concentration, avoidance of ranking, and child authorship, shaped adults' interpretations of the artifact and were invoked rhetorically in their accounts.