En hotad lärarprofessionalism? : En intervjustudie om lärares möjligheter att utnyttja sin professionella kompetens

Previous research which has acknowledged how New Public Management has come to deprofessionalize welfare professions, with the focus on teachers, constitutes this paper's starting point. The swedish government believes that professional skills are not being used in the public sector, and a re-professionalization is necessary to increase the quality of public services. This study aims to investigate whether it is possible to identify professionalism in occupational practice for nine teachers who are working in public schools in Uppsala Municipality, to answer whether their professional competences are being used. The result shows a fairly high degree of professionalism among the teachers in the study, with quite great opportunities to make use of their professional competences. The teachers experience potency and independence to exercise their profession within the framework of the national curriculum. The management of the schools and the municipality seem to have very little need to direct and control the teachers.