Joakim Andersson
About Joakim Andersson
I hold a PhD in Educational Work and am a Senior Lecturer in Aesthetic Forms of Expression with a focus on Educational Sciences.
Teaching and Research Interests
My research interests concern sloyd teachers’ communication and teaching as didactic and pedagogical tools. I am particularly interested in the significance of students’ prior understanding and their development of understanding, and how this is influenced by teachers’ ways of communicating, both in compulsory school sloyd education and in higher education. A central focus is on how teachers can create favourable conditions for understanding, and consequently for learning, through their choice of communicative forms. I am also interested in the relationship between the verbal and the concrete, as well as the visual, in the form of physical tools, artefacts, and sketches as mediating resources in teaching.
Keywordssloyd, sloyd teacher education, didactics, communication, learning, learning processes, teaching
Nordic Collaboration
For many years, I have been invited as a lecturer and workshop leader in sloyd teacher education at, for example, universities in the Faroe Islands and Estonia, working with both undergraduate and master’s students. I have also long contributed to in-service training days for practicing sloyd teachers in Denmark and Estonia. During two semesters (2023–2024), I was responsible for undergraduate sloyd education at the University of the Faroe Islands, where I also organised professional development days for upper-secondary teachers in practical-aesthetic subjects.
The aim of this collaboration is to disseminate and discuss research results – both my own and others’ – and to share experiences with different techniques and materials, in order to develop sloyd education, research, and teacher education in the Nordic countries. My Nordic collaboration and engagement has been ongoing since 2011 and is continuously evolving.
Assignment for the Swedish National Agency for Education
In 2025, I am lead author together with Peter Hasselskog for the Swedish National Agency for Education, tasked with developing instructions for the forthcoming curriculum in compulsory school sloyd.
Section Editor
Since 2023, I have been section editor for the research journal FormAkademisk
.https://journals.oslomet.no/index.php/formakademisk/index
Ongoing Research Projects
The Purpose, Status, Possibilities and Limitations of the School Subject Sloyd in Denmark, Estonia, the Faroe Islands and Sweden
This is a Nordic-Baltic research and development collaboration aiming to deepen the understanding of similarities and differences in sloyd education across Denmark, Estonia, the Faroe Islands and Sweden. The project focuses on identifying specific strengths and challenges in each country’s teaching tradition, with the goal of creating a shared understanding of how the subject can be developed in an international context.
The aim is to establish a long-term and well-functioning network between sloyd teachers, teacher educators, and researchers, where participants jointly contribute to strengthening the role of sloyd as an essential part of schooling in the participating countries, both during and after the project. A strength of the project is that experiences from different national traditions in compulsory school sloyd, teacher education and research can inspire and further develop the field. The collaborative research creates an international knowledge base that can support the development of sloyd education, sloyd teacher education, and subject didactics research in the participating countries.
I am initiator and leader of the project. Other participants are Peter Hasselskog (Sweden), Tarja Karlsson Häikiö (Sweden), Andry Kikkull (Estonia), Aron Lips (Estonia), Noomi i Dali (Faroe Islands), Bolette Kremmer Hansen (Denmark), and Ann Højgaard Slot (Denmark).
The project is funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
Assessment and Examination in Sloyd Teacher Education
This is a Nordic research and development collaboration between Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the Faroe Islands. It aims to deepen the understanding of how assessment and examination in sloyd teacher education at university level can be designed to accurately reflect what is intended to be assessed and examined. Findings so far indicate considerable variation in assessment forms across the participating countries. Through joint discussions and reflections on the opportunities and challenges of different approaches, the aim is to develop assessment and examination practices that can enhance students’ opportunities for deeper understanding and learning.
I am initiator and leader of the project. Other researchers are Stina Westerlund (Sweden), Peter Hasselskog (Sweden), Marcus Samuelsson (Sweden), Siri Homlong (Sweden), Bolette Kremmer Hansen (Denmark), Noomi i Dali (Faroe Islands), Jostein Sandven (Norway), and Bente Helen Skjelbred (Norway).
The project is funded by Nordfo (Nordic Forum for Research and Development in Sloyd Education).
Communication and Learning in Sloyd Practices
This Swedish-Danish research collaboration aims to deepen the understanding of the role of communication in sloyd and craft-based teaching, particularly in relation to students’ opportunities for understanding and learning. The focus is on how teachers’ verbal, bodily, and visual communication affects students’ possibilities to follow instructions and develop knowledge over time.
The point of departure is that communication is not merely about transmitting information, but an active and multidimensional process that shapes the conditions for learning. By studying concrete teaching situations, the project investigates how different forms of communication create, reinforce, or hinder students’ understanding, and how this in turn affects their learning. The goal is to contribute knowledge that can support the development of teaching practices where communication is consciously used as a didactic tool, particularly in sloyd, crafts, and other practical-aesthetic domains where body, material, and language interact.
Participants: Joakim Andersson, Peter Hasselskog, Bent Illum, and Lone Brøns- Pedersen.
The project is funded by Nordfo.
The Role of Sketching in Sloyd Education
Formulating an idea and then realising it in action often requires trying and reconsidering different alternatives. In this context, sketching has a central function, as imagination can be externalised on paper and thus visualised, both for the individual and for others. Explaining something verbally can often be problematic, particularly when prior knowledge differs between participants. The sketch then provides a shared point of reference, enabling the recipient to form an idea corresponding to that of the person explaining.
Participants: Joakim Andersson and Margareta Häggström.
The project is funded by HDK-Valand.
Doctoral Dissertation
Communication in Sloyd and Craft-Based Education (2021).
The dissertation examines and analyses the different ways in which sloyd teachers communicate when teaching action-based knowledge, and the consequences of different forms of communication between teacher and student. Teachers’ communication was studied using video documentation, MP3 recordings, interviews, stimulated recall, and focus group interviews.
The results show that sloyd teachers use eight different forms of communication in instruction: traditional three-dimensional group instruction, verbal, verbal with tools, verbal with body language, only tools, only body language, body-to-body, and intentional silence. Further analysis of these forms shows that they can be used in different ways in relation to fictional or concrete communication. These are termed communicative resources. Fictional communication is an “as if” action, while concrete communication involves the teacher demonstrating an action. Students’ prior knowledge and the teacher’s chosen form of communication are closely related.
The subsequent stimulated recall and interviews provided teachers’ perspectives on why they used a particular form of communication and communicative resource, as well as the intended outcomes. The analyses show some variation in teachers’ awareness of their communication and the consequences of their choices when teaching action-based knowledge. A teacher’s awareness of their communicative approach is significant for the didactic planning of how instruction should be carried out in relation to what is to be learned and who is to be taught. If the same approach is always used, students are not given the opportunity for adapted teaching. Every student group consists of individuals with different prior knowledge and learning styles, which means that the teacher’s communicative choices cannot be based solely on the task and its design, but must also be adapted to the nature of the instruction and the recipient.