Närbyråkraters förändring i handlingsutrymme över tid i kris : En kvaliativ fallstudie om lärares agerande under coronapandemin

Sammanfattning: This thesis examines teachers' discretion during the COVID-19-pandemic. Unlike many other countries, the Swedish government chose its own way and implicated public restrictions that made it possible for preschools and elementary schools to remain open. While high schools and higher educational institutions, during certain parts of the pandemic were forced to distance education. Drawing on insights from street-level theories and street-level-bureaucraty in crisis, the study explores how the teachers have experienced that the coronapandemic, and the policies pursued as a result of it, have affected their discretion over time. This study adopts a qualitative research design and the data is retrieved from newspaper articles from the two trade unions for teachers. By applying Gioias et al. (2013) method to group the data into overall concepts and dimensions the results of the study show that teachers have constantly had to pay attention to new restrictions and guidelines decided by politicians with input from the Public Health Agency based on the current spread of infection in society. The lack of experience and knowledge of similar situations was limiting the teachers' discretion at the beginning of the pandemic, but as the crisis developed so did the teachers' experience and knowledge which increased their discretion. The teachers have also experienced that their discretion has been limited by the lack of financial resources, lack of time, and lack of information about the virus. They have developed coping strategies into their work to balance the contradictions in their work during the pandemic. Finally, the findings confirm that the teachers have acted on the basis of what has been possible in the current situation at the current time within the framework of the regulations.