Browsing by Subject "Fairclough"

The purpose of this pro gradu thesis is to find out what kinds of value and power discourses are constructed in teacher discourse. According to previous research, teachers' unity, exemplarity and teachership as a profession have been emphasized in Finnish teacher discourse. The theoretical framework of this thesis draws from critical pedagogy, Foucault's analysis of power, critical discourse analysis (CDA), as well as the tradition of social constructionism, according to which language is seen as social action. The research was qualitative and data-driven, utilizing approaches associated with CDA. The data consisted of 250 opinionated texts containing teacher discourse in Opettaja (The Teacher) magazine published by OAJ, the Trade Union of Education in Finland. The texts were collected from magazines published in 1994, 2014, and 2015. In the analysis, the power relations between and within discourses, as well as the transformation between the different years and various contexts, were examined. Four power discourses emerged from the data. The discourses were comprised of discoursive units that construct the power relations of teachership. These discourses belong to two metadiscourses, which were named the renewing discourse and the preserving discourse. Furthermore, four value discourses concerning teachership were distinguished from the data. From these four value discourses, a synthesis of the ideal teacher was constructed. The ideal teacher is versatile, professional, and collegial, and has adopted an ethical and research-based working method. According to the results of the study, The Teacher magazine defines teachership as the kind of idealized teachership that is mainly traditional, strives for consensus, and positions the teacher as a passive subject. Thus, as a significant political agency, OAJ should problematize the traditional and ideal image of the teacher. Moreover, the teacher discourse of OAJ ought to give prominence to the multivoicedness of teachership, as well as teachership as an ideological activity.