Learning crafts as practices of masculinity. Finnish male trainee teachers' reflections and experiences

Abstract

Craft education in Finland has long gendered traditions that effect the present situation. The aim of this paper is to analyse the processes of learning the interlinking of crafts and gender. The analysis concentrates on male trainee teachers' experiences of craft education in comprehensive schools in Finland. Data were collected through memory work and autobiographical writing. The analysis revealed how the boys had linked the term ‘technical crafts’ with masculinity, (1) as part of their upbringing at home surrounded by the gender order of their childhood families; (2) following the school model that technical crafts are a masculine sphere for boys; and (3) the importance and pressures of the boys' peer culture. Through learning crafts, the boys were learning the masculinities of their local ‘communities of practices’. The prospective teachers' reflections revealed the importance of studying gender issues in teacher education.

Keywords:

• crafts
• masculinity
• gendered practice
• art education
• teacher education
• memory work

Notes

The data of this research were produced in a group of female trainee teachers (N = 8) by a method in which the ideas of memory work were utilised. Another part of the data were produced by the first-year female trainee teachers (N = 72) who wrote autobiographical craft essays.

I prefer to use terms ‘textile craft’ and ‘technical craft’.

At the time of writing this article (2011), there is a curriculum refinement process occurring and time allocated to different school subjects will be changed. The new curriculum may also change the organisation of craft education.

The main national newspaper Helsingin Sanomat provided people with the option to vote on the question of the day: ‘Do you support combining the comprehensive technical and textile craft education for a holistic craft education for all pupils?’ The voting resulted in 55% for and 45% against the idea of similar craft education for all (Helsingin Sanomat Online 2010).

Participation was counted as an optional course, which gave them three ECTS credits and was graded ‘pass’.

The themes were: (1) The self-made school handicraft; (2) Which craft field to choose at school; (3) The pedagogy and atmosphere of craft lessons; (4) Crafts outside school; and (5) Reflections on the research topic and process.

ECTS: The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System is a student-centred system based on the student workload required to achieve the objectives of a programme, objectives preferably specified in terms of learning outcomes and competences to be acquired.

The organisation of this course varies from university to university. In some universities the trainee students study the contents and the pedagogy of both textile and technical craft like the participants of this study, while in the other universities, the trainee teachers study only one of these craft fields.