Luokanopettajien ammatillinen kehittyminen nuorista vasta-alkajista kokeneiksi ammattilaisiksi

Abstract

The aim of the present research is to describe and understand class teachers’ professional development during their growth from young beginners to experienced professionals. Its theoretical starting points are based on the phase patterns of teachers’ professional development and on the non-linear theories of changing processes. Teachers’ professional development is considered by means of pedagogic thinking, learning experiences and self-efficacy. The present research is divided into three study problems as follows: 1) How does the pedagogic thinking of experienced class teachers differ from that of young beginners? 2) What kind of personally significant learning experiences do the teachers have and how does their self-efficacy vary during the follow-up time? 3) What kind of different developing types can be identified by the descriptions of the teachers’ personal professional development? Based on the obtained results the present writer aims at creating a pattern of teachers’ professional development. The present research is a qualitative follow-up study, and it was done twice having an interval of 15 years between the first and the second time. In the study eight teachers’ descriptions of their pedagogic thinking as beginners were compared to the descriptions by the same eight teachers as experienced professionals. Their personally significant experiences were charted by considering their descriptions of their ways of learning during the follow-up time. The variation of their self-efficacy during the follow-up time was studied as a continuum with regard to the changes in their life course. The data acquisition method was an interview completed by Stimulated Recall method, by supported reminiscence and by drawing a lifeline. The transliteration of the teachers’ reminiscences covered 269 pages of text. The research data were analyzed by a data based qualitative analysis of contents. Developing types were built up by combining all the data concerning an individual teacher into a description of his/her personal professional development. The developing types could be identified by comparing those descriptions to each other. The results show that the teachers’ pedagogic thinking changed in the following areas: Professional ethos, Professional content knowledge and skills, Personal teachership, and School and society. In addition, when experienced teachers were interviewed new content areas appeared, such as pondering one’s own teacher identity and ethical dilemmas, opening of educational co-operation from one’s own adulthood and participation in developing school by planning the school curriculum and working on the raising of a teacher’s professional status. Significant learning experiences, as regards developing as a teacher, were found to appear through experiences given by working in the classroom, from the staff and from family life at home. The variance in self-efficacy could be recognized to deal with moving in the career and breaks in the work life. The breaks started the reflection of one’s own work, which often had a consequence of leading to a tendency to develop in one’s career by various means. The following developing types were identified 1)Those developing by studying, examining and trying 2) those growing as educators and 3) those acting skillfully in the community. The obtained results produced a pattern of the teachers’ professional development, which puts emphasis on the individual nature of development, on the events of life course and on the importance of neighbouring environment to the teachers’ professional development.