Abstract
The contribution deals with the concept of crafts in general and in elementary education in Czech Republic. It studies the official Czech curricular documents for elementary education (e.g.
RVP ZV) to explore how these documents conceptualize thenotion of craft. It describes the extent to which the craft is supported by the purpose of professional orientation in the documents.
The contribution points out that this conception limits the potential of craft and suggests the possible pitfalls concerning the developing objectives of several educational areas of RVP ZV. It shows that the development of craft skills is often marginalized in these areas, and scrutinizes the causes and consequences of this marginalization.
The aim is to clarify the context of the crafts restoration in art education and to offer a concept of a craft concept that would allow its compatibility with current trends in art education. The contribution opens the question of whether this, together with the modernistic didactics' critique of craft - understood as the opposite of creating - inadvertently makes unimportant also the concepts of skill, knack and knowledge which have a specific importance for creating in general but also for practical questions of everyday life.
It updates the context definition between craft, artistic activities and polytechnic activities, which in common school practice coincide with workshop school instruction. It defines philosophical frames describing the craft as an integral part of the materialization of artifacts and also as a manifestation of the creature's body schema.
It discusses the possibilities and potentials of implementing the craft activities into general education.