Teachers’ perceptions of autonomy in the tensions between a subject focus and a cross-curricular school profile: A case study of a Finnish upper secondary school
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version
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https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2992779Utgivelsesdato
2020Metadata
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Originalversjon
Elo, J. & Nygren-Landgärds, C. M. (2021). Teachers’ perceptions of autonomy in the tensions between a subject focus and a cross-curricular school profile: A case study of a Finnish upper secondary school. Journal of educational change, 22 (3), 423-445. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-020-09412-0Sammendrag
Recent research has indicated global trends of decreasing teacher autonomy and
increasing teacher accountability. Standardised national tests have been identifed
as one of many factors constraining teacher autonomy. Another trend infuencing
teachers’ scope of action is the profling and branding of schools that compete for
students. This qualitative case study concerns the general upper secondary level in
Finland, the only level of education in the country with a high-stakes fnal examination—the matriculation exam. The upper secondary level is generally regarded as
Finland’s most subject-focused level of education. In contrast to this subject-focused
tradition, the case school for this research has developed a cross-curricular profle
emphasising creativity, boundary crossing and an outward orientated approach.
The study explores the teachers’ perceptions of how their autonomy is constrained
in this context characterised by tensions between the cross-curricular school profle on one hand, and the subject-focused tradition and student evaluations on the
other. Although one might expect these tensions to constrain teacher autonomy, the
results show that the teachers, in fact, experience the cross-curricular school profle
as increasing their individual autonomy. The study demonstrates that upper secondary teachers can experience extensive autonomy despite global trends of increasing
teacher accountability and diminishing teacher autonomy.