Browsing by Subject "toisen uran opettaja"

The purpose of this study was to describe and understand why a person would make a voluntary career change into teaching, and what kind of a role does the career change process have in the construction of teacher identity. This study began first by describing the motives behind the voluntary career change, the profiles of the changers and the steps of the actual career change process. Secondly, this study aimed to cover the concept of teacher identity and its construction process. The first two topics were then combined by looking at the role of the previous career to the new one based on the boundaryless career concept by Defillippi and Arthur (1999). According to my research review, the change process of a person's identity – personal, professional and narrative – is closely related to the voluntary career change. An interesting aspect of the career change was especially how the career change process itself, as it takes lots of reflection, risk taking and courage, could act as a contributing factor in the construction of the teacher identity. This study was based on the narrative research methodology. The narratives were received through an advertisement published in the Opettaja magazine. The research data consisted of the narratives written by four elementary school teachers and four elementary school teacher students. The narratives were used as a data source, a method of analysis and a reporting tool. The analysis began first by the thematisation and classification of the content in the narratives. The focus was then switched to the timeframe and subject position analysis. A strong message of survival was present in the research literature and the narratives analysed in this study. The empowerment resulting from the decision to pursue a voluntary career change was a common factor in all the narratives in this study. A second career teacher brings along her skills and abilities from the previous career as the writers identified in their narratives and were able to recognise the benefits in their daily teacher's life. The increased self-knowledge gained through a voluntary career change process helps the construction of a teacher identity as one works through her own person in teaching.