Technical expertise is highly rated in today's society. Thus, the technical education in school should help students develop basic attitudes and approach to the subject, regardless of gender or social class. Since technology has long been considered to belong to male domains, it is very important that the school works towards influencing girls' alienation to the subject. Knowledge and understanding of the technology today is of great importance because it is essential to the welfare of society, the future and peoples right to democratic decision (Mattsson 2005:1). The purpose of the study is to examine, based on interviews, how students and teachers perceive the concept of technology as well as examine how teachers describe their work to counteract traditional patterns of gender in the technical education. The research of the study is based on the theories of Vygotskij about children's forming of knowledge and Hirdman's theories on gender.

The following questions are answered:

• Are there any differences in how boys and girls perceive the concept of technology? What differences?

• How do teachers describe the concept of technology?

• How do teachers describe their work to counteract traditional patterns of gender in the technical education?

I've made the conclusion in my study that there are more differences than similarities in how boys and girls perceive the concept of technology. Teachers on the other hand, have a similar view of technology as a concept. In the question about how teachers work to counteract traditional patterns of gender, I've concluded that this is mostly done by group divisions and by allowing students to develop their full potential. However, I was able to discover that teachers sometimes fail to counteract traditional patterns of gender in practice.