Browsing by Subject "opettajan professio"

Objectives. This study aims to examine a class teacher’s work from the teacher’s point of view. The objective is to find out how a teacher’s primary task is perceived by teachers themselves. Another goal is to examine the teachers’ experience on carrying out this primary task, focusing on the factors that have an effect on this. The role of a teacher has lately been a subject of an active debate. Teachers themselves feel their workload is too big and burdensome. Re-examining the primary task can clarify a teacher’s own assessment of their professional role and thus support their everyday work. Analysing the primary task as well as its implementation also provide a better understanding in how to better organize the teaching and how to invest in the teachers’ well-being. Methods. This study was conducted using qualitative research methods. The data was collected by performing thematic interviews with five class teachers, each of whom had worked as a teacher for at least 15 years. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed, and finally the data was analysed following the principles of thematic analysis. Results and conclusions. The class teachers perceived the primary task to consist of six segments: following the law, teaching, raising the child together with parents, encouraging self-direction, caring, and developing one’s own professional skills. The class teachers felt they are still able to perform their primary task but were concerned about the future of the profession. Different factors related to the teachers themselves, as well as to interaction, job description, and boundaries of the job were considered to have an effect on the teachers’ ability to perform their primary task. The teacher’s own attitude, work experience, and possibilities to develop professionally and cooperate were seen as reassuring factors. Challenging factors included impractical cooperation with parents, classes growing in size and diversity, and an excessively expanding job description.