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Do comprehensive school teachers perceive themselves as active professional agents in school reforms?

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Abstract

This article focuses on exploring comprehensive school teachers’ professional agency in the context of the most recent school reforms in Finland (i.e., developing undivided basic education). In this article, the emphasis is on analyzing the premises on which teachers view themselves and their work in terms of developing their own school, catalyzed by the national school reform. Teachers’ perceptions and the relation between their perceptions of the development work and their educational backgrounds were empirically examined by means of essays entitled “Remembering the Future.” Results suggested that both teachers’ perceptions of undivided basic education and their perceptions of themselves in the development process varied considerably. Further investigation showed that teachers’ perceptions of the reform and of themselves within the reforms were interrelated. More specifically, perceiving oneself as an active subject in the development work seemed to promote a holistic and functional perception of the object of the development. On the basis of the results, it seems that as highly educated professionals, teachers were very capable of identifying and analyzing what should be changed in schools and/or the school districts. However, a challenge for the teachers’ active professional agency in educational reforms seems to be the lack of shared and informed assumptions of how change can be brought about.

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Notes

  1. Within the Finnish comprehensive school system, all comprehensive school teachers must have a master’s degree either in educational sciences or in some other domain, such as mathematics or biology, with compulsory additional studies (35 credits) in educational science. Class teachers, who typically work in primary schools, grades (0)-1-6, must have a master’s degree in educational science, the main subject being applied educational sciences or educational psychology, while the subject teachers, who typically teach in grades 7–9 (lower secondary school), usually have a master’s degree in some subject with an additional compulsory 1 year of study in educational science. Special education teachers who teach both in primary and secondary schools in grades (0)-1-9 have masters’ degrees in educational science, the main subject being special education. In different comprehensive school types, various teacher groups are dominant, and different kinds of competencies are emphasised. Class teachers typically work in schools where teaching is focused on grades (0)-1-6, and subject teachers work in schools where teaching is focused on grades 7–9. In schools where teaching is focused on all grades (0)-1-9, the teaching responsibilities between teacher groups can be allocated in many ways, for instance a class teacher can also take a responsibility for some of the upper grades lessons. Special education teachers’ competencies are used flexibly in all school types.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, Centre for Research and Development of Higher Education (YTY), P.O. BOX 9, Room 415 (Siltavuorenpenger 5 A), 00014, University of Helsinki, Finland

    Kirsi Pyhältö

  2. School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. BOX 111, 80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Janne Pietarinen

  3. School of Education, 33014, University of Tampere, Finland

    Tiina Soini

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Pyhältö, K., Pietarinen, J. & Soini, T. Do comprehensive school teachers perceive themselves as active professional agents in school reforms?. J Educ Change 13, 95–116 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-011-9171-0

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