Designing Sustainable Craft Curricula: Balancing Academic and Practical Training

Abstract

Since craft education was absorbed into higher education (HE), the concept of crafts and the demographic profiles of crafts practitioners have evolved, yet little is known about the extent to which craft programmes in HE are adapting to 21st-century changes and trends. This study aimed to investigate current HE crafts curricula in South Korea, focusing on students' perception of the efficacy of academic crafts training, and to identify the knowledge and skillsets required for competence in creative industries. A content analysis of craft curricula in HE and a focus group interview and survey of students revealed that students are interested in the blurred territories between artistry and entrepreneurship and the application of crafts with the opportunities enabled by new technologies. Accordingly, HE craft programmes are reforming to meet the needs of the new generation of practitioners, but traditional discipline-specific training with a fine arts approach and the division between studio/theory and academic/professional course content persists. We suggest that HE programmes offer more craft-specific entrepreneurial education integrated into studio-based courses with hands-on practice and interdisciplinary content to meet students' needs and foster the flexible mindset required to become a craft practitioner.