Otto Salomon and Aksel Mikkelsen, and their Pedagogical Models for Establishing Sloyd Education in Denmark and Sweden

Abstract

Pedagogically aimed craft education, or Sloyd, was established in Scandinavia at the close of the 19th century as a specific subject to be included in general education. The term Sloyd means skilful or handy and refers to the making of crafts (Chessin, 2007). Historically however, Sloyd also refers to discussions amongst educationalist at the end of 19th century about the value of craft for general education (Borg, 2008). The aim of Sloyd was to use handicraft as a platform in general education to build the character of the child, encouraging moral behaviour, greater intelligence and industriousness (Thorarinsson, 1891). Otto Salomon in Sweden and Aksel Mikkelsen in Denmark were the major leaders in the development of a systematic Sloyd education. Their models for Sloyd underlined the pedagogical value of handicraft activities as a part of compulsory education (Kantola, et al., 1999). However, there were differences between Salomon’s and Mikkelsen’s models of Sloyd. The Swedish system was based on individual learning, but the Danish system was centred on class instruction. Later, the two Sloyd models were disseminated and used by many teachers from all over the world. Most of these attended Salomon’s courses in Naas, but some went to Mikkelsen’s courses in Copenhagen. The ideology of Sloyd spread to different countries in the 20th century and became the basis of early handicraft education in many countries (Bennet, 1926), and it also gave rise to the development of theories for formal education.