A Lonely Profession? : Finnish Teachers’ Professional Commitments

Abstract

In educational research, the teaching profession is often treated as interaction located only in the classroom, with less attention to other aspects of school reality. Some studies, and the Finnish national curriculum (2014), suggest that the school system needs more practices that aim at negotiation, cooperation, and interaction with the surrounding society. In Finland, where both the teaching profession and the educational system are highly regarded, Finnish primary education has been criticized for its immobility and lack of flexibility. The qualitative research presented in this article draws on interview data collected from 13 Finnish (elementary) classroom teachers. The results of this research reveal a potential conflict between the emphases in the current theoretical teacher development plans and the teachers’ own viewpoints of the objectives in their professional development. According to the results of this study, the concept of a cooperative and multiprofessional school community is not completely fulfilled. Broadening the conceptualization of the profession toward the culture of “shared knowledge” and interaction might help to prevent some of the typical problems for teachers such as burnout, feelings of inadequacy, and professional solitude. In this article, solitude refers to the teachers’ spontaneous conceptualization of the teaching profession.