Browsing by Subject "Vaatturi"

The research examines the development and sharing of expertise in the profession of tailoring. The focus is on four themes: the impact of individual and social factors on the development of expertise and activities that either advance or inhibit its deepening. Research focused on traditional handcraft professions is important as it increases the appreciation, understanding and knowledge of these professions. Studying traditional handcrafts is also important in order to prevent the decline and disappearance of these fields. The theoretical part of the study focuses on examining previous research and theoretical literature on expertise and the development and sharing of expertise. Literature on the diversity of the methods of learning skills is also briefly discussed in the second chapter of the study, which also serves as a general introduction into the topic of the study. In this study, the development and sharing of expertise was studied by using qualitative research method. The collection of the data was carried out by conducting semi-structured individual interviews. For the purpose of the research, the experiences of skill development as well as the development and transfer of skills were collected from tailors engaged in the trade (n=4).Theoretical content analysis was used in the analysis of the material. The research results showed that the deepening of one’s own expertise was advanced by imitating the technical details of competitors and by learning by research. Sharing knowledge and skills together with other experts was not found to very common in the data. According to the tailors interviewed, the biggest obstacles for sharing expertise were the challenge of teaching skills that require routine and the lack of time. It can also be seen from the data that the reflection of one’s own workmanship was low, which may be related to the challenge of sharing skills. Those tailors who constantly challenged their own skills and routines experienced their opportunities for professional development more strongly. The reluctance to deviate from routines also rose from the data as one of the most concrete obstacles for the development of expertise. Acknowledging the factors that advance professional development is justified when the education of tailors is considered. The results of this study can contribute to this process. The organizations educating tailors should avoid teaching students simply to repeat things that are already known, even if it is important to build on what has already been learned. Educational arrangements that promote open learning and are based on students’ own interests’ support their ability to both renew and transfer what they have learned into future professional practices.