Kristin Áskelsdóttir

What does creativity consist of in the field of crafts?

Research on the creative focus of textile teachers and students' view of creative vocational training

My name is Kristín Áskelsdóttir and I graduated with a master's degree and teaching license from the art education department of LHÍ in January 2026. Before that, I have completed a BA in fashion design and a diploma in textiles, today I work as a textile teacher at Rimaskóli and have done for one year where I believe that all research and knowledge acquisition behind my final project results in a lot of what kind of teacher I am.

My final project at the art education department is called What does creativity consist of in the field of crafts? : research on the creative focus of textile teachers and students' view of creative vocational studies. It deals with creativity in primary school subjects and mainly textile education because that's where my expertise lies. I interviewed teachers and worked with students on pilot projects to try to learn more about students' original ideas, independence and creativity in textile education as well as answering the research questions. They were: are teachers working according to their own conviction that their teaching is creative and is creativity focused on their teaching? How students in elementary schools today experience an emphasis on creativity, whether their ideas have weight and what understanding do they put into being creative?

The process behind the final project was extremely challenging and a lot of work behind it, but at the same time satisfying and extremely rewarding. I look forward to continuing to leave my mark on the opportunity for elementary school students to create as a teacher.

The subject of this thesis is to examine subject teaching at primary school level and the students' view with regard to the basic aspect of creativity as well as formulating my work theory The research was twofold on the one hand it was a qualitative study where interviews were conducted with working textile teachers to examine their attitudes towards creativity, students' original ideas and their teaching methods. The interviews gave a good insight into their focus on creativity, how they appeared in teaching and the interaction of that focus and the subject's learning criteria on technical competence and skills.

However, the research was intended to be formative for my work theory and I had ideas about what could be added in order to better fulfill a creative approach in teaching based on theories and philosophy of what creativity is and to promote students' imagination and original ideas. Also, I wanted the students' vision to be reflected in the results. Therefore, I conducted a case study and presented a project to students in grades 5 and 9, part of the results of the study were divided from reflection on my teaching and field diary.

Results showed that my interviewees had a similar way of teaching and wanted to emphasize creativity, accepted students' original ideas well and guided them in conceptual work. What I wanted to add was to give students more scope to work on free projects with free results based on their concerns. The results of a case study gave varying degrees of success and that it is a difficult task to highlight the students' creations in independent projects, it requires a good framework and installation.

This research gave me a good insight into vocational teaching at primary school level, ideas for projects and certainly shaped my professional theory Both studies are my contribution to promoting the creativity and independence of students in arts and crafts.

Supervisor: Hye Joung Park
30 ECTS Art Education MA
2026