Sloyd

Otto Salomon, with the financial support of his uncle, started a school for teachers on the Nääs estate (now a part of the Swedish municipality of Lerum) in the 1870s.

In the present national curriculum for Swedish elementary schools, students have classes in slöjd every semester, normally between the ages of nine and fifteen.

The present aims of the slöjd curriculum in Sweden are to give pupils the opportunity to develop: In other words, the subject of slöjd in Swedish schools aims to develop the student's practical knowledge, and their ability to solve practical problems through knowledge of different working processes, as well as how to evaluate the results of their own work during the production process by trying out different ways to handle specific tools or materials or by choosing alternative tools and materials.

[citation needed] In educational sloyd, as devised by Otto Salomon in the 1870s, woodworking projects were designed to build incrementally on the child's growing skill.

Sloyd was taught through the use of series of models, growing in difficulty and complexity that the students were supposed to accurately reproduce without interference from the teacher.

The exercises in the use of various tools were developed through a careful study by Salomon, but he also encouraged that model series be adapted and made relevant to the various cultures in which sloyd was taught.

The book Paper Sloyd for Primary Grades suggests that the craft's benefits for the student included the following: "Observation is quickened; eyes are trained to see right lines and distances, thus aiding in free-hand drawing and writing; while the hand and wrist muscles, being used for a definite purpose, unconsciously become obedient assistants.

Projects might include folding a case for a comb or whiskbroom, a box for candies or pencils, pinwheels, a "match scratcher," a blotting-pad, or a penwiper.

These were: that instruction should move from the known to the unknown, from the easy to the more difficult, from the simple to the more complex, from the concrete to the abstract, and the products made in sloyd should be practical in nature and build the relationship between home and school.

Sloyd, unlike its major rival, "the Russian system" promoted by Victor Della-Vos, was designed for general rather than vocational education.

During the time of sloyd's invention and introduction in rural Sweden, nearly every boy growing up on a farm was already experienced in the use of the knife and knew how to use it without endangering himself or others.

Because most schools would not be able to afford to introduce a wide variety of crafts to their students, the overall needs of education would be best served through woodworking sloyd.

Salomon's system was based firmly on his study of a long line of educational philosophers like Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Fröbel, Commenius and others.

Salomon kept up a regular correspondence with former students all over the world, spoke in several languages, and delivered his lectures on alternate days in Swedish, English, and German.

According to the organization's website, its mission is "to strengthen children's character through woodworking, where our sole aim is to foster self-reliance, nurture concentration, coach perseverance, encourage neatness, and instill an appreciation for labor – all of which will prepare them for their future."