Begreppsparet teori–praktik i slöjdämnet. En begreppshistorisk analys

Abstract

This licentiate thesis in educational science, with a specialisation in sloyd education, aims to problematise and deepen the understanding of the conceptual pair theory–practice within sloyd education and sloyd educational research. The thesis is positioned at the intersection of educational history and didactic research, with a particular focus on how subject-specific knowing in sloyd has changed over time. The point of departure is that the relationship between theory and practice is often presented as a dichotomy, which affects how the school subject of sloyd is valued, organised and understood in educational contexts. Through a conceptual-historical approach, the thesis examines how the conceptual pair theory–practice has been expressed, used and changed over time, as well as how it is expressed in the present through sloyd teachers’ experiences and reflections concerning two sloyd objects made by pupils. The thesis comprises two sub-studies. The first sub-study is situated within educational history and is based on a qualitative textual analysis of historical and contemporary texts on sloyd education. The analysis draws on Reinhart Koselleck’s theory of conceptual history, using the concepts of synchronic time, semantic shift, functional shift and overlap, as well as diachronic time comprising three temporal levels. The second sub-study has a didactic and empirical orientation and is based on material-based interviews with certified sloyd teachers. Their accounts of knowing in relation to a bentwood box and a fabric bag with appliqué are analysed drawing on Ramírez’s interpretation of Aristotle’s concepts of poiēsis/making–praxis/doing. In the thesis, the findings from the two sub-studies are brought together in a synthesis within a shared conceptual-historical framework, in which Koselleck’s theory constitutes the overarching analytical point of departure. Ramírez’s interpretation of Aristotle’s concepts is used as a subordinate and specifying analytical tool for examining how knowing is articulated and experienced in sloyd contexts. Ramírez’s interpretation should not be understood as less significant, but rather as a complement that specifies a substantive layer in the analysis of the conceptual pair theory–practice. The analysis shows that the conceptual pair theory–practice does not constitute a dichotomy but is historically changing, context-dependent and relational. The conclusion is that knowing in the school subject of sloyd can be understood in terms of an integrated whole, in which cognitive, bodily and material dimensions of knowing are mutually constitutive rather than kept separate. The thesis thereby contributes to educational history through an in-depth analysis of conceptual traditions in sloyd education, and to didactic research through analyses of subject-specific knowing in sloyd, thus providing new perspectives for sloyd educational research.