Browsing by Author "Raunio, Katrianna"

The cornerstone of Finnish educational system is equity stating that all children have the same access to high quality basic education despite of their e.g. socio-economical status, ethnic back-ground or school district. However, according to the previous studies, educational outcomes have diverged in Helsinki (especially between the highest ranking and lowest ranking schools) due to socio-spatial segregation subverting the ideal of egalitarian and universalist schooling. This study focuses on teacherhood in a context of segregated urban area in Helsinki. My re-search questions are following: What kind of preconditions segregated neighbourhood engen-ders to teaching and teacherhood? What kind of teacherhood these preconditions create? And; how the official state school discourse is related to this teacher discourse? The research material of this qualitative case study consists of tematic interviews of five experienced and qualified teachers working at the same elementary school in eastern Helsinki. A high unemployment rate, low level of education, and high percentage of immigrants are determinants of the school district. The transcribed material was analysed by implementing critical discourse analysis to adduce the interfaces where teacher discourse and official state school discourse (e.g. national curriculum, Basic Education Act) were conflicting. Firstly, this study shows that school reality in a segregated urban area is incongruent with the ideals of national curriculum, Basic Education Act, and the official writings of Finnish National Agency for Education. This study describes how e.g. challenging student base, inappropriate resources and enlarged socialisation task confront teachers’ ideals causing cognitive dissonance. Secondly, I present the concept of negotiated normativity to describe the space where teachers create their own norms to meet the demands of their work. Teachers respond to cognitive dissonance by a process of negotiating new aimes and modifying their pedagogy.