Teacher training in pedagogical handicraft education in Iceland 1892–1939

Abstract

The article reports the development of pedagogical handicraft (sloyd) in the training of teachers in Iceland, from 1892 to 1938. Teacher training in pedagogical handicraft started in 1892 in Flensborg public and high school in Hafnarfjordur, influenced by the sloyd movement in Scandinavia. Sloyd comprises school activities which use craftwork to produce useful and decorative objects. It is a pedagogical system of manual training which seeks to develop the child in general, through learning technical skills in woodworking or in sewing and knitting, and making useful objects by hand (Borg, 2006; Salomon, 1893). However, the meaning of sloyd in relation to education refers to the debate amongst philosophers of those times about the value of craft for general education (Borg, 2006). The purpose of sloyd was to use craftwork as a tool in general education to build the character of the child, as well as encouraging moral behaviour, greater intelligence, and industriousness (Jón Þórarinsson, 1891). The ideology of sloyd spread to different countries in the 20th century and became a basis of early handicraft education in many countries. Sloyd for boys and girls was introduced in the 1880s in the Nordic countries. Uno Cygnæus in Finland and Otto Salomon in Sweden were major leaders in the development of a systematic sloyd model for school education. They emphasized the usefulness of constructing objects through formal educational methodology. The model was disseminated by Salomon through thousands of teachers from all over the world who attended his classes. In many countries, sloyd had a noted impact on the early development of manual training, manual arts, industrial education and technical education. Sloyd was introduced in Iceland in 1890 and became a compulsory subject in elementary schools in 1936. The beginning of a pedagogical handicraft education in Iceland was based on models which arrived in Iceland with teachers who had studied in Scandinavia at teacher training institutions for sloyd. They became pioneers in teaching pedagogical craft in Iceland, both in public schools and in teacher training, and their influence was significant in the development of pedagogical handicraft as a school subject in Iceland. In the beginning, the education of teachers in pedagogical handicraft was based on a Danish model for sloyd developed by Aksel Mikkelsen in Copenhagen. Later the teaching was based on a Swedish model from Salomon in Nääs. Around 1920, however, cottage industry became more popular in the education of teachers. The originators of sloyd separated cottage industry from pedagogical sloyd. Their main argument was grounded on the general pedagogical value which sloyd or school industry represented; according to their reasoning, cottage industry was solely based on practical values, not pedagogical. Despite the influence of cottage industry on teacher education during this time, pedagogical handicraft education increasingly gained precedence in the Icelandic elementary school curriculum, and as it gained strength handicraft education in Iceland once again came to be based on the initial pedagogy. Sloyd pedagogy was first introduced to Icelandic educators in 1890 by one of the first Icelandic professional educators, Jón Þórarinsson, who in 1892 began teaching pedagogical handicraft in the public and high school in Flensborg, Hafnarfjordur. In 1908 Matthías Þórðarson launched a sloyd programme to educate teachers in the teacher training college in Reykjavik. Halldora Bjarnadottir, amongst others, was also one of those early educators in teacher training. She was a pioneer in teaching cottage industry in Icelandic schools which was in opposition to the ideology of pedagogical handicraft education. The educational background of the initiators of pedagogical handicraft in Iceland influenced the emphasis and content of their teaching. In the beginning, Icelandic teacher education in pedagogical handicraft was influenced by sloyd and was intended for both sexes. Later it developed into different subjects for different sexes; handicraft for boys and handicraft for girls. Handicraft for boys was based on the initial Scandinavian system for sloyd, whereas handicraft for girls was influenced by cottage craft and art. Later, these subjects merged again under the influence of cottage craft.