Browsing by Subject "työnkuva"

The starting point of this master’s thesis is the Act on General Upper Secondary Education, which entered into force in 2019, and the subsequent general upper secondary school reform, which obligates general upper secondary schools to provide special needs education and learning support for their students. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the job description of general upper secondary school part-time special needs teachers, as described by the special needs teachers themselves. In addition, the purpose of this thesis is to understand what kind of support students in general upper secondary school need. The aim of this thesis is to make the job description of general upper secondary school special needs teachers clearer and more approachable. Also, the goal is to make the support needs of general upper secondary school students understandable. Only little research has yet been carried out on these themes. This thesis was qualitative, and the thematic interviews formed the material of the thesis. The data was analysed through data-driven content analysis. Seven general upper secondary school special needs teachers participated in the interview. The results of the thesis conclude that the job description of the general upper secondary school special needs teachers is divided into three categories, each of which have various subcategories. In the job description, the following three categories stood out: identifying support needs, support for studying, and co-operation. Out of the job description, the most amount of the time was spent identifying reading difficulties and writing statements following the identification. Support for studying appeared in the job description as both support for learning and support for general well-being. The job description also essentially included co-operation between different actors. Students needed support in studying relating to both learning and well-being. Students especially needed support in time management and with problems concerning concentration as well as being able to identify and deal with learning difficulties. Students also needed widespread support in maintaining well-being, of which anxiety and depression were especially highlight

Objectives. Previous research shows that teachers are required to work under constant change. The changes in society affect schools and teachers’ job descriptions. Working in the changing environment requires the ability to confront changes as well as comprehensive professional knowledge. With the help of generic skills it is possible to face different challenges and problems, and thus survive in the changing world. The purpose of this study was to investigate classroom teachers’ conceptions of what their work entails today and in the future as well as the changes that have impacted their job description. In addition, this study examined classroom teachers’ conceptions of their most important generic skills, the meaning of these skills in changing situations and teacher education as a supporter for building these skills. Methods. This qualitative research is phenomenographic. The material of this study was collected with thematic interviews with four classroom teachers. The research material consisted of transcribed interviews that were analysed by using the phenomenographic analysis. The results of this study were processed in four different sections with the help of the research questions. As an outcome of the analysis, a descriptive category was formed for each section to help with the presentation of the results. Results and conclusions. According to this research the classroom teachers’ conception of their job description is wide and unclear. In addition, the research shows that in the present the classroom teachers’ job description contains tasks that the classroom teachers don’t have qualification for. The interviewed classroom teachers felt that various social changes had had an effect on their own work and as well as the students and the entire school community. This research reveals that the classroom teachers’ most important generic skills are knowledge and skills related to their own field, collaboration and organization skills, the ability to delineate their own work, stress tolerance, digital and data acquisition skills, flexibility and readiness to face changing situations, self-development and taking care of one’s own well-being. The classroom teachers considered these skills to be helpful in changing situations. Additionally, this study showed that teacher education may not necessarily provide sufficient support for developing generic skills during the studies.