Otto Salomon in Nääs and his first Icelandic students in Nordic Sloyd

Abstract

Pedagogically aimed craft education was established around the same time as the school-based system of formative education, under the term Sloyd. This refers to a pedagogical system of manual training that promotes general child development, through the acquisition of the technical skills employed in woodwork, metalwork, sewing, knitting and the making of useful objects by hand. The purpose of Sloyd was to employ craft as a tool in general education, in order to build the character of a child, encouraging moral behaviour, greater intelligence and industriousness. The Sloyd pedagogy reached Iceland towards the end of the nineteenth century: during the years 1889–1938, 38 Icelanders had attended Otto Salomon’s teacher-training school in Nääs in Sweden, in order to learn Sloyd. These students became pioneers of the pedagogical craft in Iceland and their influence was significant in the development of the still-existing school subject.