Browsing by Subject "opettajan ammatillinen kehittyminen"

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of three Finnish volunteer teachers in developing countries. Specific point of interest was to understand the functions of volunteer learning experiences in developing teacher identities. The objective of the study is to understand the possibilities of personal and professional growth that international volunteer teaching can provide. In this study, identity was seen as socially constructed narratives (Sfard & Prusak 2005). Learning was considered the bridge between actual and designated teacher identities. Teachers' professional growth was seen as interplay between developing the teacher's personal identity, professional identity and collective identity (Heikkinen 2001). This study follows constructivist theories' conception of knowledge as socially and subjectively constructed. A narrative approach defines the study as a whole. The research method applied was a combination of autobiographical narrative interview (Schütze 2005) and a semi-structured interview. The subjects were three Finnish teachers who all had taken part in an international volunteering program for six months. The collected data was analysed using Polkinghorne's (2005) analysis of narratives and narrative analysis. Analysis of narratives was utilised in categorizing the teachers' learning experiences. Narrative analysis then was applied to construct a new narrative: a typical story of the functions of international volunteering in teacher identity development. The teachers' learning experiences through volunteering were substantial and strongly linked to the teacher's personal background. The learning experiences were categorized as follows: 1) adapting in a new country, 2) working in the school community, 3) facing challenging situations in teaching and 4) cultural encounters. All categories except for the first one were linked to teacher identity development in the teachers' narratives. Learning experiences were utilized in two ways: realizing designated identities and creating new ones. International volunteering can support teachers' professional growth, but learning experiences are not linked to professional identities automatically without reflection. For the organizations providing international volunteering opportunities, it is important to identify the reflexive nature of volunteering and be organized in guiding teachers to reflect their experiences.