Student craft teachers' perceptions of their preparedness to teach crafts in Finnish basic education

Abstract

Finnish craft education, as well as the basic education school system in general, continues to undergo various changes. One such change involved a transition from the basic education crafts subject with two content areas (textile and technical crafts, taught separately and according to pupils' choice) to the subject of crafts in which all pupils study both content areas. Subsequently, the craft teacher education programmes specialising either in textile or technical crafts were replaced by programmes covering both content areas. This study investigates how student craft teachers (who studied during the early years of this transitional period) perceived their preparedness to teach basic education crafts. Preparedness to teach, originating from the concept of self-efficacy, entails students' perceptions of their acquired competencies, future responsibilities and expected challenges as craft teachers. We combined a survey instrument used earlier in Finland and a semi-structured interview to provide a rich understanding of students' views. According to the survey, students were least concerned about their subject-specific (i.e., craft) skills. Simultaneously, they were most concerned about their special education skills, which concurs with previous domestic and international research results. However, this mixed-methods approach revealed a clear discrepancy between the survey results and the issues that students raised in the interviews. We discuss the results considering the school system changes (including increasing pupil diversity) and the balance between subject-specific and pedagogical skills provided by teacher education. Notably, despite the transitional period and multiple changes, students' perceptions on entering working life as craft teachers were predominantly positive.
Keywords: Craft teacher education, curriculum change, differentiation, pedagogical skills, pupil diversity, special education