Mellan lärare och ledning: karriärstegsreformens konsekvenser för lärares autonomi i den svenska skolan

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the Swedish first teacher reform on teachers’ autonomy in the Swedish school context. The theoretical perspective is laid down by Freidson, who uses three distinct logics for explaining how work is controlled. These are: the market logic (which concerns consumerism), the rational-legal bureacracy (which concerns managerialism), and the logic of professionalism (which concerns occupational control of work), which is a model elaborated by Freidson. By using a large scale survey, directed to all legitimized working teachers in Sweden, that concerns first teachers and teachers’ everyday work, an analysis is done by applying the distinct logics to the results of the survey, and further compare their different impacts on the autonomy of teachers. By leaning on these ideal types as a framework for analysing the impact of the first teacher reform on teacher autonomy, a discussion emerge that concerns a limitation of autonomy within the teaching profession due to the first teacher reform. The results from the survey are compared to earlier research regarding the first teacher reform in order to fully grasp the implementation of it, and what impact it has on teachers’ autonomy.