Enterprise Education through Sloyd

Abstract

For the past few decades, enterprise education has been on the educational agenda. Though it is being pushed by EU and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) policy, as well as national policy in the Nordic countries, there are still questions regarding the implementation and nature of enterprise education. Since developing students’ enterprise is a cross-curricular goal, in educational systems that are based on subject division, a better understanding of enterprise within the context of different school subjects is of importance. The school subject sloyd has repeatedly been highlighted as being well suited for enterprise education. This article focuses on outlining how enterprise education can be understood in the context of sloyd education from a theoretical perspective. The article is based on comparison between research literature and policy documents on enterprise on the one hand, and sloyd educational theory on the other. The main sloyd theoretical points of departure are the principle of areas of interest, the holistic sloyd process and sloyd as a holistic activity system. In addition to contributing to the research on enterprise, the article therefore contributes to the understanding of educative sloyd in contemporary society from a theoretical perspective, also pointing towards implications for teaching practice. Examining sloyd from the perspective of enterprise develops an understanding of how sloyd can contribute to solving contemporary challenges in education. The results highlight the importance of the holistic sloyd process as a prerequisite for enterprise education through sloyd. Basing teaching on areas of interest is a means for enterprise education to unfold in sloyd teaching. Paying attention to the forms of decision making pupils are involved in, as well as handling uncertainty and risk are also highlighted.