The Finnish National Board of Education assessed learning outcomes in
the final 9th grade of basic education in 2010. This assessment included
a design task that involved testing the management of the holistic
craft process (HCP), a test of theoretical knowledge and an attitude
test. This article revisits the national assessment from a new
perspective: to what extent do pupils have the competence to manage HCP,
theoretical knowledge and what stand do they take towards the crafts
subject in their attitudes? The more specific research questions strive
to address: to what extent does theoretical knowledge and attitudes
determine the managing of HCP? Is the performance in managing this
process dependent on gender and earlier craft studies? This research
focuses on a central concept: the competence to manage HCP. The
assessment data was marked off into tasks that indicated the managing of
HCP (n = 661 out of the sample N = 4,792). K-means cluster analysis,
linear regression analysis, crosstabs with the Chi-squared test, and
Spearman’s rank order correlation coefficient were used as a
methodological solution. The central observation is that three different
groups of pupils managed HCP, the theoretical knowledge and the
attitudes. These groups are: the positive achievers (43 %), the positive
underachievers (29 %) and the negative underachievers (28 %). In
addition the performance in managing HCP cannot be determined by the
theoretical knowledge and the attitudes in crafts at all, but is rather
related to gender and earlier craft studies.