Crafts and craft education as expressions of cultural heritage: individual experiences and collective values among an international group of women university students

Abstract

This paper explores relationships between crafts, craft education and cultural heritage as reflected in the individual experiences and collective values of fifteen female university students of different nationalities. The students (all trainee teachers) were following a course in crafts and craft education as part of an International Study Programme in Finland. Data were collected from a small group activity and individual autobiographical essays. The essays were analysed qualitatively using Atlas-ti. Key statements were consolidated under three headings: personal values and meanings placed on crafts; cultural, community and family influences; and crafts at school. The outcomes of the group activity and the essays are discussed under these headings. Concluding perspectives are offered on: intellectual foundations for crafts in educational systems; competition between beliefs, ideas, and forms of behaviour in respect of the practice of crafts and perceptions of cultural heritage; and tensions among the aesthetic and economic dimensions of crafts.