Craft interests during leisure time and craft learning outcomes in Finland

Abstract The Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE) evaluated learning outcomes in craft in the final ninth grade of compulsory education in March 2010. The evaluation included both a questionnaire (n=4792) and a production exercise (n=661) based on technical and textile craft. The production exercise included the designing and manufacturing of a whole product based on pupils’ own ideas. Craft-related leisure time interests were also assessed. Similar evaluations for compulsory education craft have not been carried out in other countries. School craft helps pupils understand the constructed world and to become a part of it. Craft-related leisure time interests, on the other hand, have an effect on the developing identities of pupils and help them learn to control their lives. There is hardly any data available on the effects that craft-related leisure time interests have on school craft learning outcomes. This article is based on research of pupils’ (n=366) craft-related leisure time interests and their effects on learning outcomes in school craft. The main leisure time craft interests were technical maintenance and repairs and textile production. The relation of these interests and learning outcomes was analysed by forming a confirmatory factor model. The factor model represented leisure time interests that were either maintenance and repair related or production related. Results derived from the model and the structural equation model representing the relations to learning outcomes are presented. Technical maintenance and repairs were found to have an effect (r=0.40) on craft learning outcomes. Textile-related leisure time interests were found to not have any effect on learning outcomes. The results lead to considering the gap between school craft contents and the everyday craft skills that pupils need in their lives. Consideration was also given to how pupils could benefit from their leisure time interests at school. The results could also be used not only to assess the goals that pupils and schools set for craft, but also for what should be done in school craft for these goals to be achieved.