Beyond Individual Matters

Sloyd Teachers posts in a Facebook group

Abstract

The reason for conducting this study was two-fold: sloyd teachers have over a period of time expressed a need for fellow sloyd teachers at their workplace in the beginning of 2016 felt that there had been an “attack” on their subject. Using thematic analysis, we studied 334 posts written by participants in a Facebook group called Nationellt Resurscentrum (National Resource Centre) during an “ordinary” month, April 2016. The results show that the posts were mainly concerned with the exchange of teaching experiences, functional discussions concerning matters such as internal and external conditions related to sloyd as a school subject, and information sharing related to the teachers’ own continuing professional development, such as invitations to specific lectures. In terms of community of practice theory, the results of this study can be interpreted as demonstrating that this specific Facebook group strengthens the sloyd teacher community and allows them to initiate and assert ownership of discussions related to their profession. The result also shows that posts in this specific Facebook group made it possible for the members to transform individual competencies into a collectively possessed skills “toolbox” beyond individual matters.

Keywords: Experience exchange, Functional discussions, Information sharing, Communities of Practice, Sloyd Teachers