Teaching pupils to participate in the textile design and technology Olympiads: Case study of teaching textile crafts in basic education schools in Latvia

In Latvia, Olympiads for different
subjects, including design and technology,
are organised for pupils in general education
schools. To study how pupils are prepared for
open design and technology Olympiads in textile
crafts, teachers (n = 42) were surveyed using
a questionnaire by Sawyer (2018) comprising
45 themes that refer to the design and artistic
study culture model – the studio model. The
study results showed that learning outcomes,
assignments, and classroom practice for preparing
pupils focused on the creative process. However,
there was a statistically significant difference
between the results of Sawyer’s (2018) study and
those of this study in overall terms, as well as
specifically in relation to learning outcomes and
project assignments. No statistically significant
differences were found for classroom practice.
Most surveyed teachers worked in extra-curricular
time, as well as during design and technology
lessons, to prepare pupils for Olympiads.