"Let the teachers be teachers" - ideas on teachers' work in the public conversation on teacher assistants

Abstract

The article draws attention to the recent public discussion in Swedish media on the need for unloading for teachers. In this discussion the introduction of teacher assistants has been presented as a potentially effective measure. The media texts are analysed with the help of a content analysis, in which the conversation is seen as part of a turn in the conversation about the school and the teaching work which in the long run can contribute to a redefinition of teacher's work. The general questions in the article revolve around what different ideas about the teachers’ work that occur and which are given dominance in the conversation. The analysis is linked to theories on professionalization where a public conversation can be regarded as a process where the differentiation of teachers work can be described as a struggle for territories where borders are marked. How teacher assistants as well as their roles and functions are defined in the conversation can thus be seen as an expression of teacher professionalization. The study also discusses how the conversation may affect future shifts of borders around, above all, the social dimension of the teaching work.

The result shows that the exposure of the term "teacher assistant" in the media increased explosively in the beginning of 2016. The analysis also shows that the media conversation has been characterized by consensus on the idea of ​​the "pure" teaching work where the teachers are to devote themselves to teaching and handing other surrounding “dirty work” to either occupational groups with lower status in the organization or professional groups with specialist expertise. The study also shows how the public conversation about teacher assistants has influenced the political driving forces in which decisions are made that affect laws and regulations. Also in these texts there are arguments for a differentiation of the teaching work, where parts that do not belong to teaching are equally or even better done by others.

Finally the study shows that the conversation about the introduction of teacher assistants in Swedish schools can be seen as a step backwards towards a reduction of the social dimension of the teaching work, where teacher assistants take over the care of and relational work with students and where the teacher's work are much more restricted to classrooms. The consequences of this for the teachers’ pupils is discussed in the end of the article. It is proposed that changes in the teaching profession's domain of activity can also mean shifts in the view of schoolchildren. Processes of defining domains by delegating "dirty" work can also include increasing social distance to less-desirable clients. Hence there is a risk of teacher assistants are assigned the responsibility for teaching pupils in need of special support, pupils who are probably in greatest need of well-educated teachers.