Identifying past and current trends in technology education in Finland

Abstract

Technology education makes a unique contribution to the development of all young people by providing them a wide range of knowledge and skills. It has a role in shaping future debates and discourses by developing students’ technological literacy and by raising awareness of various dimensions of technology. In order to understand technology education in Finnish basic education, it is necessary to consider it within the subject of craft, particularly the domain of technical craft activities. However, the role of technology education has been and still is undefined in Finland. Thus, we need strategic planning and research in order to develop the necessary procedures and operations to achieve improvements in the future. In order to do that, the aim of this research was to identify past and current trends in technology education in Finland. This was done by observing the development of technology education in Finland’s national curricula during years 1970–2014. More in detail, a qualitative, theory-driven content analysis was performed for the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2004 and 2014. In this analysis a theoretical framework ‘A model for defining technology education (Parikka & Rasinen, 1993) was utilized. Based on the comparative analysis of technology education in these curricula, it seemed to be well represented in the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2004: craft curriculum. However, in the National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014 technology education was more evidently represent in science curriculum.