In Finland, the National Core Curriculum for basic education from 2014 discusses holistic and multi-material craft, which includes technical work and textile work aiming to break down the gender-based tradition in craft education. However, teachers have been confused about the concept of multi-materiality; it has raised tension between textile…

The aim of this study was to find out if there have been any changes in technical abilities among Finnish school children during the last 30 years. Technical abilities were first measured in the affective, psychomotor, and cognitive areas in the year 1993 and these results were later compared with the results from 2012 and 2022. The number of test…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many sudden social changes, including a shift to remote education in many countries. In Finland, remote education also concerns crafts as a standard school subject, combining aspects of art, design, textile, and technology in basic education. Accordingly, Finnish craft teachers faced the unprecedented situation of…

The aim of this study was to investigate the ways in which textile materials and techniques are expressed in contemporary art in Finland. The first phase of data collection was to identify a population of Finnish artists who use textile craft-based forms in their art and who produce their works themselves. After that, six discretionary selected…

Finland has its own version of a "makerspace": craft class. Originally, there was one craft class for boys and one for girls. Later, there were classes for different materials, especially for wood and textiles, which are deep-rooted concepts in the Finnish crafts mindset. To reclaim craft class for pupils, or "makers", we must…

This paper discusses the processes and practices that link crafts and gender in the upbringing and education of girls. The paper is based on a study conducted among female primary school trainee teachers in Finland. The data are comprised of their experiences with crafts as schoolgirls. The methods of the study were memory work and writing of…

A group of 116 Finnish fifth- through ninth-graders used a problem-solving technology and crafts curriculum with computers; a control group (n=151) used traditional crafts curriculum and instruction. Results for motor skill development, technical knowledge, and emotional engagement suggest that all students should receive a balanced curriculum of…