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The development of the internet launched digitalization. Digitalisation is a process in which digital inventions flow more and more to different areas of society. Digitalization substantially involves transfer and storage of information that has been converted into digital form. Through internet, it can be done cost-efficiently, easily and quickly. Advanced societies with digitalization have turned into information societies, where information has become an important object of trade. It is easy to search information online and share it with others. The purpose of this study was to analyze the digitalization in handicrafts. The aim of the study was to investigate how digitalization affects handicrafts. The subject of interest was to find out what kind of digital applications and devices are used in handicrafts. The goal was to increase understanding on how and where these devices and applications are used in the field of handicrafts. The research material consisted of five volumes of magazine Taito, published by Taitoliitto, from 2018 to 2022. Total of 30 magazines were analyzed. Concepts related to digitalization was extracted from the magazines. Through the information found from the magazines, the intent was to form an overall view of the digital applications and devices used in the field of handicrafts, as well as their purposes in handicrafts. The study showed that digitalization has also progressed into the field of handicrafts. Nowadays, handicrafts uses and benefits from many kind of digital applications and devices. Many of these applications are ones that are commonly used in our society for other purposes as well. They are not just applications developed for handicrafts. Such applications were, for example, e-mail or various social media channels. The digital devices used in handicrafts divided into devices that were developed only for handicrafts and devices that, in addition to their other purposes, also served handicrafts. An example of the former were digital clothing design programs and an example of the latter were laser cutters. The study showed that handicrafts is not detached from the digitalization. Instead, handicrafts actively utilizes the benefits digitalization produces.

The aim of this thesis is to determine how the teacher identity of craft teacher students develops during advanced teaching practice. The development of teacher identity has been studied from the perspectives of elementary school teachers or subject teachers in general, but the teacher identity of specifically craft teacher students has not been investigated previously. This study focuses on aspects of teacherhood and teacher identity as described by previous studies, especially from the perspective of teachers at the beginning of their careers. Teacherhood is a broad concept that depends, among other things, on society, expectations, and individuals themselves. Teacher identity, on the other hand, answers the question of who I am as a teacher, that is, the teacher's own view of their teacherhood. The study was conducted as a qualitative content analysis. The participants were 12 craft subject teacher students who were completing or had completed the final stage of their advanced teaching practice. The data consists of reflection texts related to the participants' advanced teaching practice. The data were analyzed using a theory-guided approach, utilizing characteristics of teaching expertise such as subject mastery, didactics, and pedagogy, as well as a data-driven perspective. As a result of this this study, the development of teacher identity was divided into four main categories: subject matter, didactics, interaction, and participants’ self-perceived competence. During the teaching practice, subject matter improved through the learning of new craft methods and the importance of subject matter and its impact on teaching became more evident. Regarding didactics, the importance of preparation for teaching was emphasized. Throughout the teaching practice, participants discovered and adopted new teaching methods and became more conscious of their own teaching style. Concerning interaction, participants' understanding of the role of a craft teacher expanded. Interaction between teacher and students sparked realizations about the participants' own personalities as part of their teacher identity. The participants’ self-perceived competence in teaching was primarily described by feelings of both insecurity and confidence. The participants’ experiences of insecurity largely evolved into confidence during the teaching practice, but new insecurities also arose concerning their future teaching careers.

Targets. The main target of this Master's thesis was to study craft teachers students workinglife-expectations. To be more spesific the goal was to search how students see their future in working life and in teaching profession. There are no earlier studies of craft teacher students workinglife-expectations. This was one of the reason why this topic was selected, other reason was my own interest. Methods. The data was collected from Helsinki university's craft teacher students. The data was collected in the internet with structured survey. There were together 52 answers (n=52). The data was analyzed with SPSS-program. Conclusions. The findings were mainly positive and craft teacher students see their workinglife quite positively. Students thought that teaching is a hard profession, but also very rewarding.

Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Objectives. The research task of this study is to describe, analyse and interpret what kind of craft teaching assignments occur in the field and how they correspond to the goals set by the National core curriculum for basic education (OPH, 2014). The purpose of the research is to give the reader a picture of the structure of the assignments and how the stages of the holistic crafting process are realized in the assignments. in addition, the object of examination is the implementation of design teaching and how the assignments enabled the realization of multimateriality. The structure of the assignments is examined according to the learning categories of the didactic model of investigative production. I research the realization of the holistic craft process in accordance with the contents (S1-5) of the goal (T2) of the national core curriculum for basic education (OPH, 2014). I analyse the teaching of design according to the design stages of the schools' design path. Methods. The research material was the assignments given by craft teachers to 7th-9th graders found on the internet and in the literature. There were 55 assignments in the material, and they had been implemented after 2016. The material was found on the website of Tekstiliopettaja TOL ry, on the website Punomo - handiwork online, on the website of technical subject teachers - TAO ry, on the website of educational institutes Pedanet and in the book "Kirja käsityöstä". In addition to these, I used three survey answers. I processed the material using the Atlas.ti 22 program. For the content analysis, I built three theory-based classification frameworks that answered my research questions. Results and conclusions. Most of the assignments were fairly closed (58.2%) or completely closed (27.3%). One assignment can be interpreted as quite open, but it was implemented as a collaboration between two teachers. The rest of the assignments were placed between open and closed assignments. In less than half (38%/55) of the assignments, students were instructed to use different materials in their work. Assignments can be used to aim for practice in a specific area, and by limiting them, the teaching can be differentiated. In the assignments included in this study, the holistic craft process or designing stages from start to finish were not realized. The assignments mostly consisted of the planning part and the implementation phase. In several assignments (78%/55), students were instructed to plan their work and then moved on to the doing phase (70%/55). The design was mainly limited to aesthetic details and searching for a ready-made guide or modifying an old one. Experiments in the sense of testing ideas took place only in a few tasks (7%/55). Instead of the design process, the analysed assignments showed the importance of doing.

Aims of the Study. I began to think that teachers have a lot of power when they are developing learning tasks for students. I am interested in what learning tasks are chosen to be taught and what arguments are posed. The aim of the study is to show how learning tasks are developed in teacher training and what arguments are posed to support the decisions. Teacher has the most impact on developing learning tasks and therefore his or her perceptions (regarding crafts and learning) are also being studied. Studies have been made about what do teachers plan in general (for example Zahorik, 1975) but now developing learning tasks is in the spotlight. I began to understand the outlines of my study by doing a mind map (or as in my study a figure of preunderstanding). Because I have been in teacher training I have knowledge based on my experience. I used this knowledge when developing my preunderstanding. I have two research questions. 1.Which teacher trainees' perceptions (regarding crafts and learning) have influence in developing learning tasks? 2. How and with which arguments are learning tasks developed for craft lesson? Research Method. Five craft teacher students took part to this study. They attended to teacher practice in fall 2016. Student teachers' portfolios of the practice were analyzed and student teachers were interviewed. This study is a qualitative case study. Craft teacher students are a specific group and the learning tasks that they have developed is even more specific case. First, I explored the portfolios and based on that information I developed the themes and questions for the theme interview. The portfolios and the interviews were analyzed together with content analysis. To guide the analysis, I used six questions. Relating to first study question: Which perceptions about craft and learning do student teachers describe in portfolios and at the interviews? How do these perceptions translate into learning tasks? Relating to the second study question: How do learning tasks develop? What impacts do various factors (for example learning environment, students, competence) have on learning task? How do student teachers argue their decisions regarding learning tasks? The Results. The student teachers' perceptions had a lot in common with the year 2014 national core curriculum. Phenomena-based learning, inquiry-based learning and collaborative learning were repeated as student teachers' learning perceptions. Teacher's task is to support and inspire students. Perception of crafts highlighted the joy of making crafts and growth of self-esteem. The differences between student teachers were for example how open the learning tasks were. Some were more eager to keep things in their control. All the student teachers got a theme from the teacher. The theme was the base for planning. Developing a learning task usually started by setting learning goals. On the other hand, a learning task that student teacher thought of, could be the start of planning. While planning student teachers thought a lot of students: What would be useful for students to learn? What abilities and skills do they have? Student teachers own perceptions affected on planning learning tasks: What is important to learn (within the time and theme limits) in my opinion? Planning quite accurate schedule was also considered important although it often changed during lesson. Factors that influence on learning tasks are learning goals, national core curriculum, students, learning environment, materials, time, perceptions regarding crafts and learning, competence and teacher. Students, learning goals and student teachers' perceptions have more impact on learning tasks. Planning the space helps the lesson run as well as managing the group, so it is a pedagogical way. Class room planning affects very little into learning task. This is also the case with materials and equipment that are essential for work but do not affect much into the learning tasks. Teacher gives advice and supports student teacher. Sometimes teacher helped to plan or advised to leave something out from learning task. But to learning tasks teacher had only little effect. The choices that were made (regarding learning tasks) were argued with student teacher's perceptions and national core curriculum. The national core curriculum reflects the prevalent perceptions regarding learning and crafts. These perceptions appear also in student teachers' perceptions. The learning tasks were planned to benefit students so that they learn useful skills and knowledge and that they would be motivated and can feel success. One argument was that teacher's advices shaped the learning task.

Objectives. This study examines the way Finnish handcraft blogs approach handcrafting. By exploring handcraft blogs, one can find out how handcrafting is approached in them and how the phenomenon of craft is transmitted through them. It is important to become aware of the ways in which handcrafting is approached, as these ways build and shape our common reality actively. Handcraft blogs are an important part of the Finnish craft culture and they help build handcraft-related phenomena and promote the spread of various ideas and ways of thinking. This study examines what kind of handcrafting discourses could be interpreted in the writings and comments of Finnish craft blogs and what those discourses could tell about the broader representation of handcrafting and being a maker. Methods. The blogs chosen for this study were four popular Finnish craft blogs. The data consisted of a total of 32 blog entries published in October 2016 and their related comments. The data were analysed inductively with discourse analysis. Results and conclusions. Four dominant handcrafting discourses were interpreted from the data. The discourses were related to dreaming, community, success and being a maker. The discourses appeared in the data as their own entities, but overlap and shared attributes could also be found. In the data, handcrafting was approached by discussing completed and unfinished products or processes along with dreaming about doing, especially in the pursuit of finished craft products and the sense of succeeding in something. Based on the set of discourses, handcrafting is a communal activity through which crafters can encounter others and communicate. Handcrafting was approached by both positive and negative ways, but the main thought was the importance of handcrafting and the positive things and experiences that can be achieved with it. Based on the data, the mere fact of dreaming and planning is a significant activity. The discourse-based image of a handcrafter, who has to cope with different expectations and pressures, is complicated and conflicting.

Objectives. The new curriculum of crafts teaching that will be brought into use of autumn 2016, introduces a new concept of crafts which is called multimaterialism. Multimaterialism will consist of the materials, equipment and techniques of both textile work and technical work. At the same time, teaching lessons of crafts will be reduced in secondary schools. Previously, in crafts the finished product and used skills have been seen as great importance for teachers' competence and student's learning. Former studies that have been completed have seen craft as a process which occurs inside of textile or technical work. Based on some studies, the way of teaching crafts seems to be changing to multimaterialism. In these studies crafts has been seen as a part of the technical development and design. This study examines the teacher's competence through professional and pedagogical views. In addition, the features of crafts teacher's specific competence were examined through meaning of skills, product and process-related meanings, complete craft and pedagogical way of thinking which is connected to crafts teacher's work. Research question is that, how the new curriculum of crafts teaching will challenge the educational community and teachers who are planning and working with teaching. Second question is how the new curriculum will challenge the teacher's competence. Methods. The study was conducted as a multimethods case study, which utilized qualitative data. Multimethods was chosen because it helped to get more diverse information. The research materials in this study were video material from two events and the supplementary material related to these events. The first video material was derived from a panel about multimaterialism, from the discussion of five crafts curriculum experts. In addition, there was also Flinga-comments, enabling the public to participate in the debate on the big screen. There were approx. 80 participants at the event, but due to the on-line broadcast the amount was approx. 160. The second video data was collected at a meeting of the textile teachers union's member association's teachers, who discussed about the new curriculum. From this meeting written material about crafts elective lessons was received. At the event there were 30 textile teachers. The data was analyzed in accordance of the research questions and themes from the data, using the ATLAS.ti program. From these themes four main themes were found that were corresponding to the research questions. Results and conclusions. The challenges facing the teachers competence and the educational community were in some ways overlapped. The findings were looked upon in the light of multimaterialism. Based on the research the challenges of crafts education that arose were 1) Taking new curriculum into use as well as the dialogue of the teacher's values and the curriculum, 2) understanding and implementing multimaterialism, 3) The guarantee of the crafts teachers employment and high-quality crafts teaching. 4) Challenges to the teacher's competence and the challenges the school community were partly overlap. Teacher's competence challenged the changes in the job description and co-operation, understanding skills, understanding of the craft process and product, as well as understanding craft's pedagogy. Dialogue of the theory and the data can be said to be the key role of the teacher when the local crafts curriculum is drawn up. Crafts teachers must be able to find their own crafts values and practical skills in common with the new curriculum. But In same way must also adopt new approaches to crafts teaching so that she/he is able to justify the place of crafts teaching to the educational community. In addition the educational community must allow for the training of teachers and implementation of education so that the objectives of the curriculum can be carried out.

The aim of this study was to interpret the significance of crafts in late 19th century Finland through Juhani Aho’s novels. Three novels were selected as the research material: The railroad, Papin tytär and Papin rouva. The theoretical background consists of an overview of the late 19th century societal history, defining crafts within the framework of the late 19th century, a brief literary historical review, and the role of gender in this thesis. The study is situated within the field of craft sciences and contains elements of historical research and literature research. The aim was to interpret the meanings attributed to craft and what they reveal about their own society. The study was conducted as discourse analysis. Excerpts that include craft were selected from the material and were then grouped into classes by using data-based content analysis. These classes were brought together and formed three categories. These categories were craft as a process, craft objects and craft skills. From these categories themes were derived and, by combining and reconstructing them, discourses around the crafts were formed. While forming these discourses, the material was reflected against the sociohistorical framework established in the theoretical background. Six discourses were formed around the theme of craft. These discourses were Craft as a part of daily life, The concentrated symbols and meanings in craft objects, Self-made clothing as an indicator of status, Craft as a voice of emotions, Craftmanship as a cursor of value, and Craft as a symbol of a virtuous woman. The importance of craft was proven through these discourses. The discourses show that crafts have been a major part of everyday life in the late 19th century Finland, regardless of a social class, age, gender, or any other societal position a person may have. However, craft objects also constructed and kept up societal differences. Nevertheless, the value of craft was evident not only in daily life but also in aesthetics, and craftmanship was taken for granted but still valued. Crafting was a necessity of everyday life, performed routinely, but it also carried meanings in conveying messages, building hierarchy, and processing and expressing emotions.

When Finland occupied East Karelian territories in Soviet Union during The Continuation War (1941 1944) Finnish people had also to take care of the inhabitants of the occupied East Karelia. For example there was a lack of clothes and shoes during the wartime. In order to facilitate clothing situation and to provide more opportunities to work for women, Finnish people founded some workshops in East Karelia. Workshops also helped to collect East Karelian craft products. One of the workshops was founded in the city of Olonets in October 1941 and it was in operation until June 1944. This workshop is the subject of this thesis. The aim of this thesis is to find out with the microhistorical approach what kind of functions the workshop of Olonets had during The Continuation War and who worked in the workshop. In this thesis I also examine women's crafts in the Olonets workshop and their meaning during the wartime. I collected the material of this thesis from different places. In February 2010 I interviewed Talvikki Lausala, the leader of the Olonets workshop, who worked in the Olonets from May 1942 to June 1944. From the Virkki Käsityömuseo I looked for objects which have been made in the workshop of Olonets. Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki collected crafts from the East Karelia when she was working in the area and in the workshop from 1941 to 1944. Archive material I found from the Finnish National archive and from the archive of the Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki -Foundation. East Karelian women and girls who were not able to do anything else came to work in the Olonets workshop. If women could not go to work outside of home, they had an option to do the same crafts at home. There were three Finnish women, Tyyne-Kerttu Virkki, Talvikki Lausala and Sofi Nyrkkö, who worked and led in the workshop of Olonets. In addition to the workshop, there was a dress maker's atelier in which clothes were made to order and soldiers uniforms were repaired, a small museum and a shop to sell products of the workshop. Craft products were also exported to Finland. Courses were organized in which Finnish women taught East Karelian crafts.

This thesis examines the influence of the welfare effect of crafts and craft-communities in the lives of people with depression. The well-being effects of crafts has been studied extensively and from several different perspectives in recent decades. Some of these studies have been handled at a general level the meanings of crafts for the mental health, but little is known about the benefits of crafts specially for depression or depression self-treatment. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to find out if the crafts can be used as a self-treatment method in depression, based on the meanings told by the depressed. The research questions were that what role craft plays in the story of the interviewee´s depression and what well-being effects the interviewees feel they get from crafts and craft-communities. The thesis pursues a narrative approach. Research material collected by narrative interview from five craft-amateurs who has experienced depression. Material from the interviews were analysed with two approaches. As a result of the narrative analysis, the study created personal stories of the interviewees about the depression and the role of crafts in it. The analysis of narratives examined in more detailed way the similarities and differences between the interviewees´ narratives. These narratives were compared with recommendations on self-treatment for depression and the studies about the well-being effects of craft. In their stories, the interviewees described how crafts and craft-communities improve their well-being. This was very consistent with previous studies of the subject. Because of the de-pression, it was significant for the interviewees that the crafts increased their experiences of pleasure, usefulness and success. They also felt that the crafts gave them more strength and improved life management. For the interviewees´ crafts and craft-communities pro-duced similar welfare effects. Although they felt that from craft communities, they received also social relationships with peers. Interviewees didn´t use the term of self-treatment for de-pression when they described the well-being effects of crafts. Even though the interviewees express that the crafts help them manage and live with depression. Based on such results the crafts could be considered a suitable method as self-treatment for depression.