A1 Journal article (refereed)
Staff Members’ Professional Agency within the Staff Community and the Education Policies : Supporting Integration in Multicultural and Multilingual School Communities (2022)

Manninen, E., Hökkä, P., Tarnanen, M., & Vähäsantanen, K. (2022). Staff Members’ Professional Agency within the Staff Community and the Education Policies : Supporting Integration in Multicultural and Multilingual School Communities. Education Sciences, 12(12), 900. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12120900

JYU authors or editors

Manninen, Eveliina
Hökkä, Päivi
Tarnanen, Mirja
Vähäsantanen, Katja

Publication details

All authors or editors: Manninen, Eveliina; Hökkä, Päivi; Tarnanen, Mirja; Vähäsantanen, Katja

Journal or series: Education Sciences

eISSN: 2227-7102

Publication year: 2022

Publication date: 08/12/2022

Volume: 12

Issue number: 12

Pages range: 900

Publisher: MDPI AG

Publication country: Switzerland

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12120900

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/84798

Additional information: This article belongs to the Special Issue Migrant Integration in Schools: Policies and Practices.

Abstract

In recent decades, increased diversity and migration have challenged school staff members’ ways of working. This study aimed to identify the challenges faced by Finnish school staff in supporting students with migrant backgrounds, and to elaborate on how they enact professional agency toward these challenges. The data consist of 15 thematic interviews with staff members across various work positions in two Finnish lower secondary schools. Based on thematic analysis, the challenges within the staff community and the education policies were found to include the following: (1) the diversification of students makes tensions more visible in the staff community, and (2) inflexible education policies restrict support processes. In these challenges, staff members practiced professional agency via a focus on their own work level, relying on certain colleagues, and trusting their own professionalism, under strong autonomy tradition. However, outside of their own work level, staff members prefer to adapt to the conditions by compromising, and they seem have not strong participation in higher decision-making. As a conclusion, it would be valuable to resource time expressly for establishing new practices, strengthen head teachers’ ability to promote a culture of shared leadership, while clarifying the boundaries of pedagogical autonomy, and facilitate the participation in higher decision-making.

Keywords: staff; teachers; schools (educational institutions); school community; human agency; professional skills; professional development; immigrants; immigrant background; multiculturalism; multilingualism; challenges; education policy