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The research is based on a comparative study of craft and technology education curriculums and students’ attitudes towards craft and technology in Finland and Slovenia. The study was undertaken by the Helsinki University and University of Ljubljana during years 2013-2015. A literature review was completed, in order to examine and compare the craft and technology education curriculums in Finland and Slovenia. In addition, a quantitative survey was subsequently distributed to 505 school students in Finland and Slovenia. The questionnaire consisted of 14 questions, which aimed to ascertain students’ attitudes towards craft and technology. The survey showed substantial differences in students’ attitudes towards craft and technology education in the two countries: these differences may be explained by differences in the national curriculums, the different pedagogical traditions and cultural differences in the field of technology. However, for deeper understanding, the quantitative findings need to be examined further with different research methods.

This study explores the development of sloyd teachers’ efficacy beliefs over the course of their careers. It also investigates the patterns of teachers’ efficacy beliefs at different stages of their careers. In order to answer the research question, a questionnaire were constructed and distributed to 280 teachers in Finland and Sweden. An exploratory factor analysis gave us the following five factors: instructional skills, classroom management, motivating pupils, assessment competence and establishing routines. We used these to compare means between novice teachers, mid-career and late-career teachers. The group of novice teachers estimated all five factors to be lower than did the mid-career and late-career teachers. Patterns of teachers’ efficacy beliefs at different stages showed that novice, mid-career and late-career teachers all estimated their classroom management ability the highest and their ability to assess pupils’ competence in sloyd as second highest. The findings indicated that novice teachers, in particular, lacked opportunities to discuss questions such as how to instruct, how to manage the classroom, how to motivate pupils, how to assess pupils’ knowledge and how to establish routines in a classroom. The findings also indicated that teachers’ self-rated assessment with respect to instructional skills increases up until the middle stages of their career, before flattening out. Finally we found that sloyd teachers in the latter stages of their career had different beliefs about their ability to perform important teaching activities that help pupils to learn sloyd. Consequently, it appears that sloyd teachers with extensive experience are better prepared for day-to-day teaching practice.

This paper is based on a comparative study of craft and technology education curriculums and students’ attitudes towards craft and technology in Finland and Estonia. The study was undertaken by the Helsinki University and University of Tallinn in the year 2012. A literature review was completed, in order to examine and compare the origins of craft education in Finland and Estonia. The review highlighted that craft education in both Finland and Estonia originated over 140 years ago and was influenced by the Tsarist Russia, the Western European countries and Scandinavian sloyd pedagogy. Furthermore, despite the origins of craft education in Finland and Estonia being similar, the Estonian national curriculum placed greater emphasis on innovation, whereas the Finnish national curriculum focused on the development of students’ personalities and gender issues. A quantitative survey was subsequently distributed to 148 school students in Finland, 276 school students in Estonia. It consisted of 14 questions, which aimed to ascertain students’ attitudes towards craft and technology. The survey showed substantial differences in students’ attitudes towards craft and technology education in the two countries: these differences may be explained by differences in the national curriculums and the different pedagogical traditions. However, these findings need to be examined further through research.Keywords: national curriculum, attitude, pedagogical traditions, technology education, craft.