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Abstract

Editorial

Last summer, I proposed that it seem to me that we have developed a new midsummer issue - tradition – and once again it is true! However, during last year, we have published four issues: one “ordinary number” and three special issues. This midsummer issue is a so called ordinary issue but two more issues will appear: one beginning of the fall and second one before Christmas time. This is a slight sign that we are starting to get more articles for the review process and we hope to increase the numbers of each volume. I would like to thank all the reviewers and authors for making this possible! In this number we have six interesting articles.

Pauliina Maapalo’s and Juha Hartvik’s article “Mulighetsrom for trearbeid med utgangspunkt i øyeblikksbilder av elevarbeider” focused on analysing various wooden artefacts produced by elementary school students in woodworking. The micro-ethnographic approach was used and eight school in Norway provided the context of the research. The study is rooted in a post humanist and new materialistic philosophical tradition. The wooden artefacts were analysed by using photographs and the snapshot images of the events from the woodworking rooms, materials, and tools. The data analysis was based on didactic four-field models (Huovila & Rautio, 2007; Lindström, 2009) and design theoretical concept such as use and method (Papanek, 1995). The results revealed the students’ artefacts as well as learning spaces created by the teachers can be described as convergent spaces where learning of material-technical knowledge and skills was emphasized. The authors concluded that in craft education there should be possibility for exploration and creative processes in which artefacts with craftsmanship qualities appear.

The second article “Craft education in sustaining and developing craft traditions – Reflections from Finnish craft teacher education” written by Sirpa Kokko and Riikka Räisänen focused on the role of craft education in sustaining and developing textile craft traditions from craft teacher education point of view. The purpose of the study was analyse how students and teacher applied traditional crafts and craft techniques in individual work and in teaching practices. The data consist of student teachers' portfolios from two courses: Material and Surface (1st year students) and Advanced Teaching Practice (5th year students) and 12 portfolios from each of the courses were chosen for data-based content analysis. The results revealed that the way the students applied crafts traditions was often related to their own motivation, experiences, and ideation. In their Advanced Teaching Practice portfolios, the student teachers put more emphasis on designing, sketching and making prototypes on their teaching and many of them wanted to experiment with new teaching approaches such as student- centred learning and team work. The analysis shed light on the ideas of tradition in the contexts of sustainability and globalisation as important themes related to student teachers' textile craft making and teaching practice.

The third article “Faglige forventninger i grunnskolefaget Kunst og håndverk” by Eva Lutnæs focused on how teachers formulate expectations for the students' learning through assessment criteria in Arts and Crafts at secondary schools in 17 counties in Norway. She collected and analysed 111 assignment texts (Oppgavetekster) that are the documents describing a task and academic expectations for students’ creative work. The topoi - pattern analysis was utilized in order to examine how teachers formulate their assignments and assessment criteria. The author identified four topoi categories that provided a view of how teachers interpret the current curriculum for task assignments and assessment. The analysis revealed a clear prioritization of the visual assessment used by the teachers, and author argues the identified topoi categories lay the conventions of the Art and Craft subject open to critical inquiry and can lead to a discussion of how the assessment of Art and Craft practices can be renewed.

In Jostein Sandven’s article ”Å kjenne seg i slekt med jorden: Natursløyd og økosofi i fremtidens tverrfaglige skole” the concept of ecology relays on the philosopher Arne Næss's interpretations. The study analyses Norwegian and Finnish new curriculum for basic education that both emphasize the respect for nature as well as social and cultural sustainability. According to curriculum analysis both countries give the future school a mandate to facilitate pupils to become active actors in the climate debate. In the article, learning strategies, subject-didactic models and interdisciplinary activities are viewed in light of practical examples from nature craft education. The result ends up in a subject-didactic relationship model for use in the nature craft education and for interdisciplinary teaching.

Ingvill Gjerdrum Maus’s article is titled “Enhancing design literacy for sustainability among youth in crafts-based design education” and she describes an educational case study named “Case Sveip” that focused on the students learning in craft-based design for sustainability (DfS) in lower secondary school. Design for Sustainability (DfS) principles and practices were embedded in a woodwork project to study the following research question: What possibilities and challenges are involved in enhancing design literacy for sustainability among youth through engagement with DfS principles and practices? Two teachers who had expertise in teaching woodwork and 26 students of the 8th grade (aged 12–13) participated the bentwood box –project. The study relied on action research methodology. The students were organised into two (AG1:15 students) and (AG2: 11 students) groups. Data consisted of video recording transcripts and observation notes from 18 lessons (total 27 hr). Further, 24 students’ project book responses (consisting seven structured themes) as well as four self-evaluation question were thematically analysed. The study reveal how the project progressed, and how students described various aspects of the sustainability. The students’ self-evaluations indicated that they found DfS to be understandable and useful for their design and craft practice, education and future work.

The last article "Myten om Ronja Vikingadotter” written by Annika Elisabet Larsson, Kerstin and Marie Lind problematized the concepts of story and myth in their overarching textile-historical research project entitled “The Myths of All Times”. In the study, two adaptations of the Astrid Lindgren’s internationally renowned story “Ronja, the Robber’s daughter” for the screen produced over 30 years apart, were compared. By analysing on the costumes of the robbers, the study focused on manifest and latent signals in the expressions and contents of both movies.

I wish you a nice summer holidays and I encourage you to submit your articles in TECHNE journal!

Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen

Editor-in- Chief