Orientations on studying crafts in higher education

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craft research Volume 13 Number 2

SIRPA KOKKO

University of eastern Finland, Finland

Orientations on studying crafts in higher education

Abstract

Crafts in higher education (HE) are scattered and typically lack departments of their own, instead being integrated in art, design, technology, education or culture-oriented departments. The purpose of this research is to shed light on the orientations of crafts in HE programmes that have crafts as their foci. Based on document analysis of the curricula of one American and four European (Finland, Sweden, Estonia and United Kingdom) craft study programmes and fieldwork observations, the following five orientations were identified: educational crafts, traditional crafts, critical crafts, cultural heritage of crafts and design-based crafts. Both similarities and differences were found. The targets, prospective career paths and pedagogical methods of these study programmes were adapted to the broader targets of the various departments. Craft teaching followed the basic principles of studio pedagogy. The sought-after skill acquisition level varied from expressive purposes to ability to make quality products. There were also differences in whether a programme focused on a specific craft field or covered a broad spectrum. The requirements of academi- zation were adapted in all study programmes. However, the role of writing differed from free and short reflective writing in the art department to a strict academic writing style in the education department.

Keywords craft pedagogy higher education craft science art studies crafts

craft traditions academic crafts

Open Access under the CC BY-NC licence. https://doi.org/10.1386/crre_00086_1 Received 31 August 2021; Accepted 4 April 2022

crAFT eDUcATION

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Professional goals varied from becoming a teacher or an artist to self-employment in a small-scale craft enterprise or achieving commercial success in industrial production. Concerns about losing craft tradi- tions and dedication to maintaining them were shared across programmes. Despite being situated on the outskirts of academia, the status of crafts as an HE discipline adds value and visibility to the crafts and strengthens their identities.

Introduction

Crafts have entered higher education (HE¹) slowly but steadily. Since art and craft came to universities, there has been continuous discussion about their role in this context (Orr and Shreeve 2017).

Researchers have been concerned about the effects of academization on creative disciplines – such as arts, design and crafts (Almevik 2019; Kokko et al. 2020a; Orr and Shreeve 2017) – which needed to meet requirements designed for more theoretical HE disciplines. The requirements guiding teaching and learning in HE concern measurable learning outcomes (Soares et al. 2020) and values such as employability, efficiency and creativity (Budge 2012). Concerns of fine art in HE, such as the cost of studying, student numbers and motivation, student–teacher ratios, metrics and quality assurance systems and emphasis on research over skill training (Journeaux et al. 2017), relate to the study of crafts as well.

Predominantly practical as they are, crafts have stayed on the fringes of mainstream HE, where theoretical knowledge is valued (Almevik 2019). Commonly, crafts do not have departments of their own but exist in courses within art, design and technology departments and in related teacher education study programmes. Craft courses are also found in the departments of cultural and heritage studies. Previously, more practice-oriented craft study programmes existed, but many have been closed (Kokko 2021) due to the emphasis on more theoretical academic studies. As an HE instructor in crafts in several countries, I have recognized both similarities and differences in the way crafts are taught, justified and researched in academia. This article sheds light on the orientations of studying crafts in the HE programmes that have crafts as their foci.

As crafts are multidisciplinary – involving material, technological, cultural, social, economic and ecological aspects – they have long been researched from a multitude of perspectives and under a range of academic disciplines. Peter Dormer (1997) edited one of the early attempts to theorize crafts, by focusing on the relevance of craft in a society governed by technology. Paul Greenhalgh (2003) has continued with the same theme, combining the history of crafts with their future by discussing the trends and movements that have shaped them. The history of crafts has been a central theme of research, sometimes with a special focus on specific forms such as textiles (Schoeser 2003) or with a broader perspective on the origins of craft traditions (Langlands 2017). Recently, the relationship

1. In this article, higher education (HE) and university are used as synonyms to refer to academic study after completion of secondary education.

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between crafts and themes of globalization, power, identity and politics has gained more attention (Wilkinson-Weber and DeNicola 2016; Wood 2021).

Research in creative practices has been classified as having its focus into, through or for the practice (Frayling et al. 1997), by signifying the making as an object of study, a method to perform research or an artefactual outcome. Practice-led research is gaining more attention as a way to reflect on experiential knowledge (Mäkelä and Nimkulrat 2018). Camilla Groth (2017) has studied the importance of accumulated embodied knowledge in design and craft processes. Kristina Niedderer and Katherine Townsend (2014) highlight the need for research in the crafts based on material understanding and human values.

Often the specific nature of crafts has been compared to the features of arts, design and technology, which are understood to be close to the craft field. In his theorization of craft, Howard Risatti (2007) examined the differences of craft to fine art and design by comparing handmade crafts with machine-made designs. He indicates that the uniqueness of craft is connected to a deeper expression of human values that transcend culture, time and space. To avoid being absorbed by fine art or design, Risatti (2007) emphasized the need for craft to articulate its role in contemporary society. Also, Glenn Adamson (2007) focused on the specific nature of crafts, compared to contemporary art, by analysing the subordination of crafts and highlighted the necessity for Thinking through Craft. According to Richard Sennett (2008), craftsmanship refers to a human desire to do a work well for its own sake.

The theorizations of crafts mentioned earlier have been conducted by researchers representing a range of disciplines. Craft is often seen as falling outside of academic disciplines, but in the Nordic countries, craft is researched within a specifically dedicated discipline, namely, craft science. Based on a multidisciplinary approach, Nordic craft sciences are constantly developing their own academic ground, which was acknowledged in a study on the approaches of almost 60 completed Nordic Ph.Ds in this field (Kokko et al. 2020a; see also Westerlund et al. 2022). As the discipline is still getting established in academia, there is a need for openness to new research topics and methodo- logical inventions to get more information about the versatile phenomena of crafts.

There have been few analyses of craft in HE. In the studies that do exist, often the focus has not been particularly on crafts but on broader creative disciplines (Orr and Shreeve 2017) or specifically art and design (Budge 2012; Journeaux et al. 2017). Susan Orr and Alison Shreeve (2017) examined the teaching and learning practices in a broad range of creative disciplines, including some crafts. They call for an experiential curriculum to acknowledge the plasticity of knowledge in art and design and explore the ‘stickiness’ of art and design in HE, referring to the ambiguity of teaching to support creative processes. Budge (2012) has identified the tension about the efficiency requirement in HE for supporting creativity in studying art and design, pointing out that creativity requires peace, time and exploration instead of quickly reaching results that are already known.

She points out studio pedagogy as an acknowledged approach to supporting students in their skill- building, creativity and tacit knowledge through practice in specifically equipped studios. Keith

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Sawyer’s (2018) research on studio pedagogy has revealed the practices of art and design education in supporting students’ creativity. Based on ethnographic research from several art and design disciplines and schools, he created a model for studio pedagogy that combined learning by doing and learning supported by peers with the instructor as an expert coach. The main finding was that creativity was conceived as a process, emphasizing learning over the outcome. To support students in their processes, the instructor’s main task is to provide guiding structures and support in an adequately furnished studio.

None of the above-mentioned studies focused specifically on crafts in HE. The purpose of my own research is to outline the specific orientations of studying crafts in one American and four European craft study programmes. By examining their distinct curricula and leaning on my fieldwork observations, I searched for their particular orientations on crafts in HE. More specifically, I examined the targets and the career prospects of the graduates as well as the pedagogical methods used in the programmes.

Methods and data

My earlier experience of working in and visiting these study programmes allowed me to develop a good pre-understanding of the nature of their craft component and helped in analysing their official targets. The choice of craft study programmes for this research fulfilled the ideas of purposeful sampling for maximum variation in qualitative data collection, as presented by Palinkas et al.

(2015). They introduce the criteria for identifying cases on two bases: (1) the similarity, to capture the elements of depth, and (2) the difference, to capture the elements of variation. In this research, both criteria were met: first, the study programmes were similar in that they focused on crafts in HE and, second, the purpose of their craft programmes varied.

Table 1 summarizes the main features of the study programmes under investigation, such as the department and the faculty where they are located, the main purpose of the craft programme, the academic discipline they represent and the structure of the programme. This general information was gathered from their respective websites (see Table 2 at the end of this article).

Due to my long experience as a researcher and lecturer in Finnish craft teacher education at the University of Helsinki (UH), the fieldwork period was quite lengthy. The other craft education programmes examined were visited at various times: the fieldwork periods ranged from one week to five months and are given in Table 1. As my own background is in textile crafts, I often focused on that field, although other craft fields were included, as shown in Table 1.

The document analysis method was used (Bowen 2009; Jupp and Norris 1993) to analyse the curricula of the study programmes. The requirements of document analysis concern authenticity,

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Table 1: The researched HE craft study programmes.

HE institution

and country HE faculty/department programme under analysis

Purpose of the programme mate-

rial orientation Structure of the programme Fieldwork period University of

Helsinki (UH), Finland

Faculty of Educational Sciences Department of Education Craft Science and Craft Teacher Education study programme

Educate craft teachers Range of crafts (multi-material)

BA (three years) + MA (two years) 300 ECTS in craft science, including pedagogy

Seven years (2013–21)

James Madison University (JMU), United States

Department of Art, Art History and Art Education

Fibre Art study programme

Artistic development Textiles

BFA Art Studio (four years) Fibre art concentration forms fifteen credits of the total 78 credits.

Some fibre art courses may be included independently as part of the BFA + optional MFA in fibres (three years, 60 credits)

Five months (2018)

Viljandi Culture Academy (VCA), University of Tartu (UT), Estonia

Department of Estonian Native Crafts

Estonian Native Textiles

Develop craftsmanship and sustain traditional Estonian crafts Textiles

BA 240 ECTS (four years) in Estonian Native Crafts.

Concentration available also in Construction or Metalwork + optional MA 120 ECTS (two years)

1- to 2-week visits, total six weeks (2012–19)

University of Gothenburg (UG), Mariestad, Sweden

The Faculty of Sciences Department of Conservation Construction

Develop craftsmanship and sustain cultural heritage of crafts Construction and building crafts

Cultural Conservation BA 180 ECTS (three years) + optional MA 120 ECTS (two years)

BA programmes: Building Crafts; The Craft of Garden and Landscape Care; Building Antiquarian; The Conservator

one month (2018)

Continued

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representativeness and credibility (Fitzgerald 2012), criteria that the curricula met. The analysis was guided by the following questions:

• What are the targets of the study programme?

• What are the career prospects after finishing the study programme?

• What pedagogical methods are used?

To answer these questions, I searched the curricula of the five study programmes found on their respective websites (Table 2). During the fieldwork periods, I relied on an ethnographic approach, including participatory observation and interviews. I wrote field notes and gathered a range of other materials, such as seminar presentations, lectures, course assignments and took photographs. These qualitative data are used mainly to enliven the curricula to be analysed by the practical examples of activities. As the time spent in the field ranged from one week to drawing on my insider knowledge of my own institution from several years, the amount of data varied accordingly.

Orientations of craft programmes

A summary of the curricula analysis is presented in Table 3. The study programmes differed in their broader aims related to different departmental contexts. A few career prospects were named as outcomes of undertaking these study programmes, ranging from employee (e.g. teacher and museum worker) to self-employed (e.g. artist and entrepreneur), often leaving the career option HE institution

and country

HE faculty/department programme under analysis

Purpose of the programme mate-

rial orientation Structure of the programme

Fieldwork period Manchester

Metropolitan University (MMU), UK

Department Manchester School of Art

Product Design and Craft

Educate designers Broad material orientation

BA (Hons) 360 credits (three years).

Optional MA (one year) in a range of topics.

There are about ten design- oriented BA-level study programmes at MMU.

one week (2017) Table 1: Continued

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open to the students’ own inclinations (e.g. designer in industry or entrepreneur, general craft professional).

Synthesizing the purpose (Table 1) and the targets (Table 3), I identified the following orientations in the HE craft programmes:

1. Educational crafts: in the UH programme, students learn both crafts and pedagogy, to qualify them as craft teachers with broad know-how.

2. Traditional crafts: in the VCA programme, the focus is on learning crafts to sustain the Estonian craft tradition.

3. Critical crafts: the James Madison University (JMU) programme focuses on creating the students’

critical approach together with their artistic development while learning crafts.

4. Cultural heritage of crafts: the University of Gothenburg (UG) programme educates cultural heritage professionals with knowledge of a specific craft field.

5. Design-based crafts: the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) programme educates qualified designers with skills in creative thinking and design strategy to offer them a range of professional options in design.

The following sections provide further information on each of the orientations.

Table 2: The websites referring to study programmes (Accessed 14 August 2021) .

UH: Study track for craft teacher studies https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/opiskelijaksi/koulutusohjelmat/

kasvatustieteiden-kandiohjelma/opiskelu/opintosuunnat#section-85653

VCA, UT: Department of the Estonian Native Textiles https://www.kultuur.ut.ee/en/departments/crafts/programmes/textile VCA, UT: Contents of the curriculum https://www.is.ut.ee/pls/ois/!tere.tulemast?naita_ka_alternatiive=1&_naita_

ka_alternatiive=1&leht=OK.BL.PU&id_a_oppekava=5100&kordi_pealehel=2&systeemi_seaded=3,2,12,1,&viida%20 kaudu=1&sessioon=0

JMU: BFA Art Studio: Fiber Arts and Weaving https://www.jmu.edu/artandarthistory/programs/Fibers.shtml MFA in Art https://www.jmu.edu/artandarthistory/programs/graduate/studio-mfa.shtml

GU, Mariestad: Bygghantverksprogrammet/The building craft programme https://www.gu.se/studera/hitta-utbildning/

bygghantverksprogrammet-n1bhp https://www.gu.se/kulturvard/studera-hos-oss

MMU: Product Design and Craft https://www.mmu.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/ba-product-design-and-craft/

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Table 3: The study programmes under analysis and guiding questions.

HE institu- tion study programme

name Targets of the study programme

Career prospects after finishing the

study programme Pedagogical methods used UH

Craft Science and Craft Teacher Education

To support crafts and craftsmanship as part of basic education and lifelong learning. Multimodality, interdiscipli- nary approach and research skills are promoted.

Craft science research skills concern scientific thinking, multi-material problem-solving, manufacturing, ethics, sustainable future and craft culture.

Expert of education, teaching, learning and craft field.

Includes lectures, individual and collaborative work, essay writing, exams, testing of materials, hands-on activities on a range of materials and techniques, independent research work and projects, teaching practice and portfolios.

JMU Fibre Arts and Weaving

To emphasize exploration of materials within a contemporary context that considers emergent and related issues of multiculturalism, technological advancement, gender, sexuality and more.

Artists, teachers, graphic designers and photographers.

Student engagement both in studio practice and critical research.

Students examine relationships between material, process and maker, as well as the critical role that cloth and fibre processes have played in global economic marketplaces historically.

Students learn many fibre art techniques.

Studio sessions are supplemented with readings and discussions that explore social and cultural concerns related to techniques learnt.

Experimenting with materials and methods develop individual creative practices.

Contemporary artists and curators conduct studio visits.

VCA Estonian Native Crafts:

Estonian Native Textiles

To educate professional and creative master craftsmen with a thorough knowledge of Estonian native textile heritage, history, compositional techniques and technology and the ability to keep, continue and reuse the traditions of Estonian native handicraft in the textile field.

Run small enterprises, work as artists, textile designers, museum workers or manufacturers of leather items or folk costumes.

Estonian ethnographical textile heritage is used as a source material for the programme.

Interpreting archival sources, study of folkloristic traditions, independent research, seminar presentation and portfolios.

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HE institu- tion study programme

name Targets of the study programme

Career prospects after finishing the

study programme Pedagogical methods used UG,

Mariestad Department of Cultural Conservation The Building Crafts programme

To create developers who have both theoretical and practical skills in traditional crafts as well as communicative ability to interact with other professionals in the field.

Ranging from academia to the construction industry.

Developing practical and theoretical skills to work in buildings or new production using traditional and artisa- nal methods.

Training alternates between theory and practice and concludes with a bachelor’s degree with specialization in construction crafts. Familiarization with the historically most common building techniques through practical exercises. Internship periods in companies. Lectures, case studies, projects, field trips, excursions and fieldwork.

Individual research work, individual assignments and collaborative work.

MMU

Product Design and Craft

To develop a material-led, experimental philosophy that pursues a ‘thinking through making’ approach to design, supporting the development of personal creative agendas.

Students learn to design and make objects that enhance daily interac- tions. Essential skills in creative thinking and design strategy are developed and applied in designing for product and crafts.

Self-employed practitioners or product designers, furniture designers, ceramicists, jewellers, retail- ers, gallery owners, retail buyers, design managers, design consultants, teachers and lecturers.

Combination of lectures, seminars and practical sessions and independent study.

Designing and producing objects that embrace both traditional handmade approaches and contemporary machine and digital manufacturing.

Creative experimentation to give ideas a material voice.

Provides a designer/maker focus, pursuing experimental approaches that are often driven by individual responses to social, political and environmental issues in the creation of the object designed.

A range of workshops for hand- and machine-making in a range of craft materials and techniques.

Table 3: Continued

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Educational crafts

In the Nordic countries, university-level craft teacher education has paved the way for academic craft research and the development of craft pedagogy. For the purposes of this study, I analysed a Finnish craft teacher education programme that I knew from my many years of working experience. According to its curriculum, the purpose of the programme is to give students the hands-on

Figure 1: A craft student teacher practising the use of 3D printing at the University of Helsinki (2018). © Sirpa Kokko.

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skills and pedagogical understanding and competence required to teach crafts. Thus, its purpose is to educate professionals in both education and crafts. Craft science (Kokko et al. 2020a) is the main discipline of these programmes and all students complete a master’s degree, requiring them to master craft research skills.

Due to recent changes in the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education, crafts are now a ‘multi-material’ subject: pupils use the techniques and materials of former textile and technical craft fields in their own craft design processes (Kokko et al. 2020b). This is reflected in craft teacher education, which has become a multi-material craft-specific study, rather than a textile or technical craft-specific study as it was in the past. Group work methods and collaborative projects now prevail in the pedagogy. Since the time allocated to hands-on contact lessons is constantly being dimin- ished, students are required to invest self-study time in developing hands-on skills and for their course assignments independently or with peer support.

As its purpose is to educate craft teachers, about 20 per cent of the programme is dedicated to studying pedagogy, consisting of a range of curriculum, pedagogy, didactics, assessment, psychology, philosophy and sociology of education. In my experience as a former lecturer in these areas, they are often arranged as lectures. Some topics are studied more deeply in seminars, in which the students often produce their own application of the topic, such as practical tools for implementing the assessment of learning outcomes. An essential part of the pedagogy consists of teaching practice in which the students plan, implement and reflect on their craft teaching at basic and adult education levels under supervision. Portfolios are produced in studying both pedagogy and craft, consisting of the students’ work and their written reflections with relevant references.

Traditional crafts

Globalization has caused many aspects of traditional cultures to merge and homogenize. To counter this, actions are taken to retain and develop distinct local traditions (Walker et al. 2018). This target has been fundamental for developing a university-level study programme on crafts in Estonia, which I have recognized during the many fieldwork periods that I have spent at VCA (Kokko 2018).

The curriculum of Estonian Native Textiles was chosen as an example of this research. According to it, the purpose of the four-year bachelor’s programme is to ‘educate professional and creative master craftsmen with a thorough knowledge of Estonian native textile heritage, history, compositional techniques and technology and the ability to keep, continue and re-use the traditions of Estonian native handicrafts in the field of textile’ (Table 2).

The study programme consists of lectures, individual study, work in the archives and hands-on skills development. The focus is always on Estonian craft tradition and heritage. Towards the end of the programme, students complete a thesis consisting of both practical crafted and theoretical

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Figure 2: Students study in archives such as this at the nearby Heimtali museum of Viljandi Culture Academy (2012). © Sirpa Kokko.

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textual parts. After completing the programme, entrepreneurs, museum workers, artists and designers enter their prospective fields of work.

During the optional master-level study, students deepen hands-on skills in their chosen craft topic, for example, a craft material, technique, object or craft as a cultural phenomenon. They also conduct theoretical research on their craft topic and produce a master’s thesis, combining practical and theoretical elements. Some of these theses are published in part in Studia Vernacula, the university’s academic journal.

During my fieldwork, I observed the students developing deep hands-on skills in their chosen craft, enabling them to work in that craft field in the future. The students conduct fieldwork by visiting masters in that craft. Working in the historical archives is an essential part of the programme.

Critical crafts

A very different stance to crafts is taken in the art-oriented craft programmes, where the critical stance is intertwined with the expressive aspect. The critical orientation relates to the specific material, technical and sociocultural dimensions of the particular craft. This approach was embedded in an American textile/fibre art study programme I visited in 2018 (Kokko 2021).

According to the curriculum, the purpose of the programme is to explore ‘materials within a contemporary context that considers emergent and related issues of multiculturalism, technological advancement, gender, sexuality and more’ (Table 2). The study programme includes both studio practice and critical research into the various issues related to textiles, their material, process and maker, as well as history of the global economic marketplace. I observed, during the ethnographic fieldwork, that reading assignments and lectures were used as a basis for discussions about the above- mentioned topics during lessons.

When interviewed, the teacher explained that the approach to critical craft consisted of three elements: (1) intersectionality and interconnectedness, (2) the material context and (3) the process.

Intersectionality and interconnectedness referred to the crafts being interconnected with cultural and historical understanding. The material context meant raising questions about the material’s origins in both place and time. The process referred to the meaning of the making, where the process informs the work and is more important than the actual product. Throughout the programme, students were guided to become aware and critical of the relationship between craft and bigger themes of globalization, power, identity and politics. In addition to discussing the topics during lessons, students connected the elements of critical research to their hands-on activities in their written assignments.

The students were required to practise certain techniques so that they could apply them in their craftwork, which needed to have an idea, a message or a statement. While working on their hands- on assignments, students searched for information related to the specific material and technique.

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During my observations, I recognized that textile craft techniques with related materials and equip- ment were taught with the principles of studio pedagogy (Sawyer 2018), similar to those in other craft education contexts both in Finland and abroad. However, unlike the craft studies focused on craftsmanship, the approach here was to learn skills only to use them in artistic expression. Thus, conceptual thinking was valued over the craft skill.

Figure 3: Fibre art student exploration of the use of material, yarn and recycled printer at James Madison University (2018). © Sirpa Kokko.

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Cultural heritage of crafts

During my fieldwork at the UG in 2018, I discovered that the study programme for cultural conservation took preservation and conservation of the cultural heritage of crafts as its starting point. The study programme was based on craft science, which covered a range of activities using both hands-on skills and tacit knowledge (Almevik 2019). The fundamental ideology was based

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on learning about the tacit knowledge of traditional crafts to revitalize and reacquire them in the present time.

In the cultural conservation study programme, there are four bachelor-level study programmes (Table 3). This article focuses on the building crafts curriculum, the aim of which is to develop students’ practical and theoretical skills in the field. Students are to acquire a good basis for practical craftsmanship in workshops, projects and during internship periods. They also learn to conserve old buildings. The programme includes cultural history and related research methods.

I observed that the students were active in the well-equipped workshops where they acquired professional building techniques under supervision, both individually and collaboratively. They were involved in projects restoring old buildings with cultural historical value, often learning the traditional crafting skills to be used in the restoration.

The department has been active in connecting craftspeople with research by establishing The Craft Laboratory. In cooperation with universities, heritage organizations, craft enterprises and trade organizations, the purpose of the laboratory has been to bring research into practice and involve craft practitioners in the processes of inquiry (Almevik 2016).

Design-based crafts

Craft forms a fundamental part of production and is essential in a range of study programmes for educating future designers. I visited MMU to participate in a final conference of the Design Roots project (Walker et al. 2018) and had an opportunity to visit their study programmes in design. This visit is the shortest of the cases introduced in this article and thus the findings are limited.

For this analysis, I chose the curriculum of the bachelor-level Product Design and Craft programme. According to the curriculum, the programme has a ‘material-led, experimental philosophy that pursues a thinking-through-making approach to design, supporting the development of personal creative agendas’ (Table 2). The teaching combines lectures, seminars, practical sessions and independent study under the supervision of experienced and practising designers in a range of hands-on workshops. The purpose is to qualify students to pursue a range of career paths from self-employed practitioners to design consultants and lecturers. The focus is on personal development, supporting students to find their own strengths and motivations. According to the curriculum, broader global issues are part of studying design. This was confirmed in my fieldwork period, as I observed the students included cultural and ecological aspects in their craft design. Often the purpose of studies was to combine the students’ personal ideas into product design, while maintaining marketability and high quality.

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Discussion: Similarities and differences in the craft orientations

In this article, I have attempted to highlight that there are many orientations to crafts in HE, involving both similarities and differences. The orientations were similar in the way they had adapted the studio pedagogy model (Sawyer 2018). The teacher–student rate was lower than in theoretical courses and students received support and feedback from both their teacher and peers individually and in common critic sessions in specifically equipped studios.

Learning skills require time and there are concerns about the effects of the efficiency requirement of HE, which has reduced teaching of hands-on skills (Soares et al. 2020). The craft programmes differed in how much students were concentrating on one specific craft field. In the educational crafts orientation (UH), students studied and practised a range of crafts mainly at a basic level. More advanced skill acquisition levels could be reached, depending on the student’s own inclination and earlier experiences. In this study programme, the purpose was to know a multitude of crafts to adapt them in the pedagogy (Kokko et al. 2020b). In the traditional (VCA) and cultural heritage (UG) orientations, students studied a particular craft field in depth to master the technique and understand its cultural historical context. In these programmes, the target was the qualified craftsmanship that Sennett (2008) discusses. These study programmes had much in common but differed in their main purpose: the traditional orientation (VCA) was to provide students with skills to sustain and develop Estonian craft traditions further, while the aim of the cultural heritage orientation (UG) was to provide students with preservation and conservation skills. In the critical craft orientation (JMU), craft skills were introduced to the extent that students could apply them freely in their own individual artistic expression with a critical stance. The design-based orientation study (MMU) focused on developing students’ design skills. They needed to understand the hands-on activities only to the extent that it would guide their work in finding new solutions for design. In the two latter craft study programmes, the main target was supporting students’ creativity in line with Sawyer’s (2018) sugges- tions, but for different purposes.

The requirements of academization – the need to adapt and use theoretical knowledge and the requirements for efficacy (Almevik 2019; Journeaux et al. 2017) – were adapted in all of the study programmes. In each of their courses, a list of references on craft research was introduced.

However, the approach to theoretical outcomes differed in relation to the departmental context. In the educational crafts (UH), existing within the Department of Education, academic practices were followed and an academic writing style was required for assignments. The critical crafts orientation (JMU) in the Department of Art emphasized the student’s individual artistic process and the written assignments were shorter, such as blog texts or short presentations. The craft practice itself was taken as the research of materiality, technology and the opportunities they provided (e.g. Niedderer and Townsend 2014). The traditional crafts (VCA) in the Department of Estonian Native Crafts

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emphasized quality craftwork in line with Sennett’s (2008) views of craftsmanship. These studies followed Langland’s (2017) views on the importance of history and origins of craft traditions. A similar approach was taken in cultural heritage of crafts (UG) in the Department of Conservation, where students experimented with and researched old craft practices both physically and theoretically. In these studies, the emphasis was on the students’ embodied knowledge (Groth 2017) of historical craft methods. Design-based craft studies (MMU) in the School of Art emphasized students’ research on a broad range of contemporary global themes (e.g. Wilkinson-Weber and DeNicola 2016; Wood 2021) when ideating their individual design solutions. Here, the aim was to acknowledge the plasticity of knowledge in design when teaching to support creative processes (Orr and Shreeve 2017).

Despite their differences, all of the craft education settings examined here were dedicated to strengthening the understanding and appreciation of crafts. The meaning and role of crafts were discussed, especially in relation to the closely related disciplines of technology, art and design (see Dormer 1997; Greenhalgh 2003). It is noteworthy that the identified orientations are generaliza- tions, and in each of them, other approaches are present. For example, in the craft teacher education study programme (UH), there are courses based on practice-led research through crafts (Lahti and Fernström 2021). Although the focus on tradition differed, concern about losing craft traditions and dedication to maintain them was shared. How craft traditions were followed or modified ranged from using tradition as a source of inspiration (JMU) to reconstructing cultural artefacts (UG).

Providing an academic platform for learning, practising and researching crafts continues and gener- ates an understanding about craft traditions.

Conclusions

The practical nature of craft activities, including embodied knowledge, has constantly been debated against the theoretical knowledge base prevailing in academia (Kokko et al. 2020a). Orr and Shreeve indicate that ‘the nature of knowledge and knowing has a direct relationship with the way that curriculum is understood and enacted in art and design’ (2017: 19). In fact, this is an essential question that forms the basis for all craft studies in HE. How do we acquire knowledge of crafts and what kind of knowledge do we create via craft activities?

The choice of the study programmes analysed here was based on my own familiarity with them.

On the one hand, my prior knowledge gave me a realistic picture of the activities in each of them, which helped in analysing their official targets. On the other hand, the period of my fieldwork ranged in depth and length, and this inevitably affected the views I developed. Thus, further research of more study programmes is required to test the validity of the orientations revealed in this article.

Many craft theorists (e.g. Dormer 1997; Greenhalgh 2003; Risatti 2007) have raised the need for craft to articulate its role in contemporary society. This analysis demonstrates a need for more in-depth

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research on the orientations of studying crafts in relation to their roles in society. Despite being situated on the outskirts of academia, the status of crafts as an HE discipline adds to their value, gives them visibility and strengthens their identity. Recognition of the distinctive orientations of academic crafts will strengthen their status and pave the way for future collaboration within the craft field.

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Suggested citation

Kokko, Sirpa (2022), ‘Orientations on studying crafts in higher education’, Craft Research, 13:2, pp. 411–32, https://doi.org/10.1386/crre_00086_1

Contributor details

Sirpa Kokko is a professor of craft science at the University of Eastern Finland, and a visiting professor at the University of Tartu, Estonia. She has extensive experience in craft research and craft teaching in Finland and other countries. Her research focuses on various aspects of crafts: culture and tradition, education, gender and societal aspects such as well-being. She has researched craft education from basic education to the university level.

Contact: University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland.

E-mail: sirpa.kokko@uef.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7484-3543

Sirpa Kokko has asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work in the format that was submitted to Intellect Ltd.