Browsing by Author "Maikkola, Miia"

The purpose of this study lies in studying the effect that the concept of unified basic education has on the respective professional identities of teachers in the context of schools that operate as unified comprehensive schools. This is studied in the frame of reference of academic tribes. The aim is to analyse teachers’ understanding of the idea of unified teacher identity and also to survey the ways in which they construct such identity in their speech. The evolution of the unified comprehensive school together with the concept of academic tribes constitute the theoretical framework of this study. Unified teacher identity, which is regarded as one of the cornerstones of developing unified basic education, is the most central keyword used in this study, and rises from this theoretical background. Unified teacher identity is by definition a relationship between teachers working in a unified comprehensive school that is equal and collegial in nature and which entails a shared commitment to the objectives of unified basic education. The research for this thesis was qualitative in nature. More specifically, themed interviews along with observational methods were used. Five teachers were interviewed for the purposes of the re-search from two different schools. The principal of one the schools also gave an interview. Discursive analytical strategies were applied to examine and analyse the interview-derived information, alongside the use of categorization analysis. The study shows that unified teacher identity is not an integral part of the interviewees’ thinking. Teachers’ mutual work culture is even now described as being based of the continuing existence of the traditional role differentiation between class teachers and subject teachers. The interviewed teachers considered their prevalent working environment complex enough that working for achieving the aims of unified basic education is effectively impossible. In further study it might be of interest to alter the research frame so that more deep-going information could be attained on the existence (or absence) of unified teacher identity. A study with a larger sampling of teachers working in unified comprehensive schools of varying sizes could provide a more holistic perspective on this subject.