Tom Sutton

There is widespread agreement that UK crafts education is in serious
decline (Pooley and Rowell, 2016). This has knock-on effects for other areas
of education, such as we see in Kneebone’s claim detailing how medical
students lack basic fine motor skills related to craft skills.
This research suggests ways in which creative practice and craft skills can
be re-invigorated and effectively incorporated into pedagogic activities.
This process is explored via the design of a practical, skills-based project
(The Maker Project) involving a team of crafts-persons who were given the
opportunity to develop and document their practice in a totally openended way. The only stipulation was that they work with the same massproduced chair, and they keep records of their creative process.
Data was gathered using mixed methods including open dialogue, semi structured interviews, self-reportage and photo-journaling, followed by a
public survey questionnaire. This data was analysed using a modified and
enriched version of Kolb’s model of the Experiential Learning Cycle.
Results indicate a range of positive outcomes: pedagogic benefits are
easily achievable, health and wellbeing improvements are strongly
indicated, and creative community activity was enhanced. The analysis of
the Maker Project provides new information on the ways in which craft skills
and creative problem-solving skills circulate. Inspired by models of whole
life learning, the thesis argues that informal but intensive skills-based
education is a practical and effective means to enrich communities of
practice.