Browsing by Subject "digitalisaatio-ohjelma"

Target: The purpose of this study was to analyze the descriptions of the expert teachers in the role of expert teachers in the City of Helsinki and their experiences of the City of Helsinki digitalisation program. In addition, the aim of the study was to analyze the expert teachers’ experiences of the factors that support and hinder their professional development work. The study also analyzed the proposals of the expert teachers for the development of the activities of the expert teacher organization. The research is current in a context where digitalizing society, the changing roles of teachers and school reforms challenge the skills of teachers and other school staff. Method: Ten expert teachers from four different expert teacher teams in the City of Helsinki were interviewed. The research material consisted of ten theme interviews conducted during spring 2019. The material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The material was manually coded using Saldana’s (2016) coding methods and the research results were categorized on the basis of similarity. Findings and conclusions: The expert teachers experienced their roles in diverse ways; in the role of the educator, experimenter and developer, in the cross-border and in the unclear role. The role of the expert teachers was perceived to be relatively autonomous and the role could also be modified to some extent in the interest of the expert teacher. The expert teachers’ experiences of the city’s digitalisation program were both positive and negative. Professional skills related to digitalisation and teacher resistance to change were seen as barriers to development and improvements. The expert teachers’ development skills and enthusiasm for recognizing the pedagogical benefits of technology were regarded as assets for development resources. Hardware and software problems continued although improvements were seen. In contrast, intrinsic motivation factors; knowledge sharing and development, willingness to experiment and meaningfulness were perceived as factors supporting the expert teachers’ work. The expert teachers considered the social network important, especially the other expert teacher colleagues. They shared mutual trust that strengthened their collaboration. The use of time, the aforementioned ambiguity of the role and job description, and the experience of the actual impact of the activity all emerged as barriers to the work of expert teachers. Resources such as facilities, changes in teams and access to scientific research, as well as challenges in communication, also hindered professional development work. The obstacles to development work, of course, were linked to the expert teacher development proposals that emphasized hopes for the clarification of working hours and task descriptions, identification of synergies and scalability, and clarification of communication practices. Based on this study, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of the expert teacher organization, but there are clear indications of positive, albeit small, impacts on changes in school culture and support for the digitalisation program. Their role can be considered central as to the various professional learning communities and development networks, which promote school change.