Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

Mobility Among Pedagogical Experts is an ESR project carried out in 2010–2013 by the Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä in collaboration with the Finnish National Board of Education and the Vocational Teacher Education College, Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences. It was financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). In December 2013 was publishes a report, which sums up the results of an online questionnaire addressed to general education and VET teachers and of interviews with ex-teachers. 1,938 people (43%) responded to the questionnaire. The actual questionnaire, interviews and statistical data based on the results has been described in previous reports. The survey was dealing with the grounds for choosing the teaching profession, mobility within and leaving the field, and general commitment. It investigated underlying factors for professional engagement and mobility as well as the constantly changing competence needs pertaining to the teaching profession.
 
Unlike in many other countries, the rate of teachers leaving their profession is not a problem in Finland. This profession is currently a highly popular career choice, perceived as attractive and prestigious. In general, teachers are satisfied with and committed to their job, as implied by their strong motivation in seeking to this field in the first place. People choose the field of education for various reasons. In general education, teacher’s work is found interesting, diverse and challenging; in vocational education and training the prior work experience plays a great role in this choice. According to this survey over 80% of the teachers are satisfied with their work.
 
In Finland teacher mobility is based mainly on natural career development and personal life situations. Teachers considered that reasons to give up teaching to another profession were a negative impact in the workplace, as well as lack of support by the education provider. For them the most important factors to remain in the workplace are perceived personal relationships and the atmosphere. Teachers’ willingness to stay in their job is influenced, among other things, by the work community’s atmosphere, changes in their work, problematic work situations, pay levels, and opportunities for self-development.
 
Of the general education teachers roughly ten per cent had come from other fields, while in VET this applied to almost half of the teachers. Within general education about ten per cent of teachers had moved to another type of post in their career and within VET about a fifth had done so. The respective percentages were approximately the same also for those leaving the field for other type of jobs.
 
The reasons for teachers leaving for other posts often included personal development, interest in advancing in their career and sometimes desire for a change. For administrative posts, especially, the shift had been planned deliberately or taken place by chance as the vacancy occurred. It was also considered that teacher’s work has become hard. Teachers need to get along with organization's continuous development, increasing administrative work, diminishing resources, and large teaching groups. Some of the teachers didn’t any longer enjoy their work. The competence demands for general education and VET teachers alike relate, now and in the near future, particularly to subject knowledge and pedagogic skills.
 
Teachers’ professional development will call for more attention in the coming years. In the future teachers need more versatile skills because of the cultural diversification, growth in the number of immigrants and different kinds of learners, and increasing workplace cooperation. Learning difficulties, multi-cultural backgrounds, individualized teaching methods, etc. requires teacher's expertise, as well as inclusion. The main development tools would be peer support, mentoring and supervision, as well as the development of entire work community. In addition, in vocational education work practice periods and team learning in own organization were seen as good tools. One of primary issues in developing teachers' competence is continuing education, which is based on their own needs and deals with current themes.
 
It’s possible to make teacher’s profession more attractive by developing working conditions and improving pay. Educational institutions can attract competent teachers to stay in their jobs. Positive stories in media could change professional and public image more positive. Special expertise immigrants have should be utilized in educational field by providing them more substance and language training, to help them to access teaching profession.
 
In future pedagogical expertise will also emphasized ICT and e-learning environments. Network pedagogy brings with it many challenges, like teaching a profession online, and that’s why it gets critics, too. Project-based learning and the teacher's role in information retrieval and learning supervisor will be emphasized. Collaboration and the required skills required are the key factor at educational institutions. Teachers’ work has traditionally been individual by nature, but nowadays role in expanding to a multi-professional, collegiate teamwork.