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Swedish Sloyd Katrina VanIngen
TED 502
Dr Waite
Fall 2003
Introduction
Technology Education evolved through a series of learning
philosophies that, over time, adapted to fit in with the changing
environment around them. One of those philosophies, introduced in
Scandinavia, eventually became known as Sloyd. Principles used in
Technology Education today originated with the teaching of Sloyd, which
started through the work of Uno Cygneaus and Otto Salomon. This report
will cover a history of their work, following its progression, movement to America, and its eventual decline. The second part of this report will outline the philosophies that defined the movement, looking at the methods and techniques used in Sloyds teachings. An in-depth look will be given to the Sloyd belief system dveloped by Otto Salomon and its impact as well.
Slöjd History
Sloyd is the English translation of the Scandinavian word sljd,
which means craft or manual skill. Sljd originated in the rural, lower
class Scandinavian homes. Parents would teach children to make useful
items rather than buying them; these crafts would also be sold to earn
extra money when needed. Talents such as woodcarving, metal working, and basket making were passed down to younger generations to help prepare them for their own future homes.
Around 1860, the Industrial Revolution began to impact people
universally. Cheaper products entered the economy, putting the livelihood of rural poor in jeopardy. Cities emerged, pulling customers away from local farms which at the time were a large source of employment for the uneducated. Factories were becoming the heart of many economies, the Scandinavian regions included, but they required a large skilled work force. Apprenticeships were becoming less popular due to new inventions making anything a master had to teach outdated and slow (Internet source 3). Unemployment rates and subsequently alcoholism rose sharply (Pesesky & Waite, 2003).
The Finnish government, recognizing the demand for the skilled
labor force, decided to implement a general school system. The idea was to cultivate a skilled work force to help increase employment and boost Finlands economy. A committee was formed to develop the system in which citizens of all social classes could be educated. A man named Uno Cygneanus was recruited to lead the development of the Finnish general school system (Internet sources 1 & 2).
Uno Cygneaus
Uno Cygneaus was a native of Finland who found his niche in
priesthood. Cygneaus was relocated by the Lutheran Church to Sitka, Alaska in the late 1850s. At that time, both Finland and Alaska were under Russian occupation. The church was sending priests to civilize the Alaskans by teaching them about God and converting them. During his time in Sitka, Cygneaus became intrigued with the Alaskan way of life, most importantly its school systems. Cygneaus became so interested in education that he took a second job teaching in his free time (Internet source 2).
By the time Cygneaus returned to Finland he had spent much time
studying the Alaskan School System. Unlike Finland, which offerred private education to wealthy male students only, the Alaskan schools were not discriminatory towards social class or even gender. Cygneaus, seeing the social impact these inclusions had, approved highly. When Finland decided to provide a general school system they had no idea where to start. They called upon Cygneaus as an experienced expert to aid in the development of a school structure and education plan.
Cygneaus studied, among others the writings of Froebel and
Pestalozzi; he was especially interested in their object-based learning. In Sitka, Cygneaus had seen crafts used in school and believed that it was an important part of a well-rounded education (Internet source 3).
In 1863 Cygneaus started a school for teacher preparation. Sloyd, or handicraft, was one of the subjects teachers were trained in. Cygneaus stressed that regular teachers give Sloyd lessons rather than skilled craftsmen. With this rule Cygneaus separated the learning of Sloyd for hand-eye coordination and form, from the training of Sloyd for specific job skills. In 1866 Cygneaus plans went into effect, making Finland the first nation to have “handwork an integral part of a national scheme of elementary education” (Bennet 60). Despite the fact that he was an advocate of handicraft, Cygneauss true focus was on Finlands entire elementary education system. Where Cygneaus left off in the growth of Sloyd, a man named Otto Salomon continued with its progress.
Otto Solomon
Otto Salomon was raised in Sweden by wealthy parents. After
general schooling, Salomon attended two different universities for less
than a year before dropping out. Despite his problems with school
Salomon was an educated, well-read man who was able to speak
several languages fluently. Salomon’s rich uncle August Abrahamson was looking for someone to help manage his estate upon which he planned to build a school. Abrahamson invited his nephew Salomon to take this position (Thorbjornsson,1994).
With no formal education, Salomon had wandered looking for a
stable way to make a living. Not being able to live off his parents
indefinitely and not wanting to go back to school, the offer was a golden opportunity. He accepted and immediately went to work studying every resource available, determined to make a good impression. In 1872 Abrahamson and Salomon opened a vocational school for boys on the estate (Thorbjornsson,1994). Cygneauss works, along with Locke, Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Salzman, were some of the influences from which Salomon developed his philosophy for the school. A self-taught educator, Salomon worked at the school as an instructor and refined his philosophy through his own experience.
Believing as Cygneaus did in female education, Salomon and
Abrahamson opened a vocational school for girls in 1874
(Thorbjornsson,1994). Salomon believed in Sloyd education as well. The
success that Cygneaus had with teaching Sloyd in schools had originally
drawn Salomon to it. Salomons own success from working with Sloyd
solidified his dedication to the handicraft method. In order to please
the conservative Swedish government enough to allow Sloyd in its schools, Salomon had to make some refinements. Salomon took the list of the different types of Sloyd handicrafts and made a chart measuring the value and educational benefits of each. The chart, in Salomons opinion, clearly showed that wood carving held the highest education value of all and focused his program around that area of handicrafts (Hoffman, 1892). His thorough presentation and research of Sloyds advantages, along with Abrahamsons connections in high places, helped ease the way for Sloyd education in Swedish schools. Salomon developed his own methods of teaching Sloyd in order to extract the most benefit possible.
Salomon became the strength behind the Sloyd movement. Despite
the fact that he was self-educated, Salomon was an excellent teacher. He broke Sloyd education down into simple exercises that were arranged in a formal and structured format. His belief in the benefits of Sloyd
education taught under his philosophy was so strong that in 1875 he
arranged with Abrahamson to start Ns, a Sloyd-based teacher preparation
school (Thorbjornsson,1994).
Salomon believed that it was extremely important that Sloyd be
taught correctly in order to work. In 1882 he shut down all the schools on his uncles estate except Ns. He wanted to center his efforts on providing a generation of capable and effective Sloyd teachers. The school, along with his methods, quickly acquired fame and educators traveled from all over the world to learn there.
American Sloyd
John Ordeway was the first American graduate from Ns. In 1878 he not only brought back the Sloyd program to MIT where he taught, but also one of his Swedish class mates, Gustaf Larsson. Sloyd was added to the already growing trend of object based education in America. It was a strong influence in the Manual Arts movement, which later evolved into Vocational Education and Industrial Arts (Pesesky & Waite, 2003). Eventually, in the early 1900s Sloyd became outdated by the
natural evolution of technology. The philosophies of Otto Salomon
continued on much longer than the actual methods of Swedish Sloyd.
Nothing would have made Otto Salomon more proud; he had often said that
Sloyd students could mechanically complete every exercise without learning the Sloyd philosophy itself. To Salomon the philosophy and
not the action was true Sloyd.
The Goals of Sloyd
Like Cygneaus, Salomon focused Sloyd on creating well rounded
individuals. The goal was to create strong personalities rather than to pack brains full of facts. Anyone can memorize a fact, but truly educated people know how to find the answer themselves. In his handbook of educational Sloyd, Salomon laid out the important aims of Sloyd into a simple list.
To instill a taste for and an appreciation of work in general.
To create a respect for hard, honest, physical labor.
To develop independence and self-reliance.
To provide training in the habits of order, accuracy, cleanliness and
neatness.
To train the eye to see accurately and to appreciate the sense of beauty
in form.
To develop a sense of touch and to give general dexterity to the hand.
To inculcate the habits of attention, industry, perseverance and patience.
To promote the development of the bodys physical powers.
To acquire dexterity in the use of tools.
To execute precise work and to produce useful products.
(Salomon, 1900)
Strengths of Sloyd
Lists like the one above were the major source of strengths in
Salomons Sloyd movement. Salomon was gifted at taking complicated
information and simplifying it in a manner that anyone could understand. He laid his philosophy out in a series of lists. None of the lists had more then 10 items and each item was later expanded on separately.
Like Cygneaus, Salomon believed that everyday teachers, and not
Craftsmen, should teach Sloyd. Because of this, lessons had to be
simplified so that an inexperienced instructor could learn them quickly
then easily teach others. Salomon realized that although a craftsman may know his trade inside and out, it gave no indication as to how well he could actually teach that trade. A teacher who had to go through the learning process of making an object could understand which area of the lesson needed a heavier focus than others.
Aside from having lessons in the form of simple lists, Salomon
also laid Sloyd out in a logical progression. Projects were arranged
from least to most difficult and from known to unknown. The knife was the first tool a student used because it was a known object that they had at home and were comfortable using. Later in the training, new tools were gradually introduced. Thirty-eight exercises such as planing and dovetailing were rated from easy to hard. Projects were planned to baby step along the thirty-eight exercises, using them in order. Along with the lesson plan and description of the project, was a list of the
exercises that would be used. Each exercise was described in full, the
more complicated with illustrations as well for the instructor to review before using.
A final strength of Sloyd was Salomons dedication to justifying
everything that was taught. Each description of an exercise also
described the educational benefit from the list of main goals that would come from it. Much like the justifications teachers use today in lesson plans, when they cite which standards will be fulfilled by each project. No action in Sloyd was demanded without a good reason as to why the participant would benefit from doing it. Salomon was quoted many times for his belief that there is no learning if you do not acquire the students interest first. Having a purpose or a final physical outcome would involve much more interest than the earlier object methods of practicing an exercise, then throwing the piece away when finished. Another advantage of having the students do the easy exercises first was that it gave them a successful first project that would be useful and could be taken home. Quick, useful and successful results helped boost the students enthusiasm and confidence, keeping them eager for the next project. Happy, eager students also made the instructors job easier and gave them more time to focus on the lessons.
The Projects
The projects were arranged in order of easiest to hardest.
Salomon consistently changed the project list every few years to avoid
having teachers fall into routine that promoted mimicking rather than
learning. The Sloyd project lists were designed to cover every exercise on the list following their order from one to thirty-eight. Guidelines for the projects were covered in one of Salomons simplified lists. (Salomon, 1904).
Ahead of its Time
Salomons philosophy contained many new ideas that would carry into the distant future of technology education. The idea of learning to problem solve rather than to memorize exercises was first officially
documented by Salomon. This problem solving is the core definition of
todays version of object-base learning, Technology Education. Salomon
focused on teaching students to enter a changing world and be able to
adapt.
Ergonomics was documented in educational methods by Salomon as well. Based upon medical articles and studies, Salomons exercises and descriptions included the ideal positions to perform them in. Foot, leg, head, and back placements were described for each major tool or machine to help insure student health and to avoid long term injury (Hoffman, 1892). Although facts at the time were crude, the basic ideas that Salomon documented are used still today in modified versions.
Weaknesses
Along with its major strengths, Sloyd had weaknesses that would
later be improved by new, evolved teaching methods. One such weakness was that Salomon preferred one-on-one teaching methods (Thorbjornsson,1994). His adaptation of his ideas to large classes, while plausible, required an immense amount of extra work on the instructors part. Students, to stay motivated, were allowed to work at their own pace, which could mean a classroom full of students that were each working on different projects. This situation could prove to be a nightmare for any teacher.
Another weakness was that with every year new research would
prove some old assumptions wrong. What is and what is not educationally beneficial changes from day to day. Sloyd values began to change and with them the program had to change, until it evolved into a new method
altogether. In America for example, Sloyd evolved into manual arts to
update itself with the new beliefs of the culture.
Conclusion
Evolution of culture moved Sloyd from an educational method into
an influential historical model. Its new value has been derived from the learning experience that was acquired through those who used it. Sloyd, among others in history, was a step towards bringing the Technology Education that we know today from a project-based field, to a problem-based field. Like its ideal students, Sloyd helped instill values in the past that make the field itself more adaptable to the changes in the future. The recent change of title to Technology Education from Industrial Arts is proof of this. In the United States especially changes in the employment field are happening too fast for schools and educators to keep up. Many of the ten main goals of Sloyd can still be applied today in our responsibilities as teachers to prepare our students for whatever future may lie ahead. It is not the projects themselves that are important, but the continuing ability to inspire students and make them capable to adapt to a changing world.
Bibliography
Anderson, L.F. (1926). The history of manual and industrial school education. New York, NY:
Charles A. Bennet CO.
Hoffman,B.B. (1892). The sloyd system of woodworking. New York,
NY: American Book Company.
Pesesky, C. &Waite, W. (2003). Technology education in American
schools.
Prakken, L. (1976). Industrial education in America. Prakken
Publications, Inc.
Salomon, O. (1904). The teachers handbook of sloyd. Boston, MA:
Silver Burdett & CO.
Salomon, O. (1900). The theory of educational sloyd. Boston,
MA: Silver Burdett & CO.
Thorbjornsson, H. (1994). Otto Salomon. UNESCO: International
Bureau of Education.
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