Community Involvement as a Resource for Teachers’ Professional Practices in Technology Education Projects for Young Learners

Abstract

Hands-on technology education is regarded as an important aspect in developing wide range of skills among young learners aged 5–8 years. While previous research has emphasized the major role of teachers in supporting learning such skills, less attention has been given to the role of community involvement (CI) as part of teachers’ professional practices in technology education (TE). This study examines how involving the local community can support teachers in planning and implementing hands-on TE projects for young learners. The study presents experiences of twelve teachers working in pre-primary education and early primary education and how they describe the role of CI in TE projects. The teachers participated in in-service training on TE and worked with university experts to plan and implement TE projects for young learners. Parents, grandparents, and local services were involved in the projects with different means and in different phases of projects. After the projects, the teachers took part in semi-structured group interviews where they reflected on planning and implementing the projects, participating in in-service training, and the value of CI. The interviews were analyzed using theory-driven content analysis guided by the Multidimensional Adapted Process (MAP) model for teaching. This study focuses specifically on CI as a dimension of professional practices recognized in the MAP model. The findings indicate that teachers valued the participation of parents and other stakeholders, local services, and university experts in the projects. Collaboration with parents, grandparents, museums, libraries, and nearby learning environments were seen as an essential asset for implementing hands-on TE. Collaboration with university experts was beneficial for supporting the integration of technological content. The study suggests that CI has great potential to support TE in early educational settings. Implications for advancing both pre-service and in-service teacher training are discussed.