Karriärtjänsters verkan på läraryrket - En studie som ämnar att undersöka karriärreformens verkan på lärare och förstelärare

Sammanfattning: The Government announced a new school reform which aims to support teacher appraisal and professionalism within the Swedish education system. The once well renowned profession is hurting by the decreasing quality of the Swedish education system and the declining number of applicants to the university teacher program. The school reform introduced a new career path for especially skilled teachers to an occupation earlier characterized by a homogenous work force. The Government encourages principals to promote thriving teachers to first teachers, whom will receive an increase in the salary covered by state aid. By supporting these effective teachers, the Government wishes to increase the image perceived and status of the profession and improve the competitiveness of teaching's salary. The thesis aims to explore how the teachers' motivation is affected by the new system with rewards and professional development opportunities. A qualitative approach enables the study to perform an in-depth analysis of the teaching profession from different perspectives. The thesis identifies that non-promoted teachers' motivation for teaching is unaffected by the reform's implementation due to their strong inner motivation. Nevertheless, first teachers' motivation for school development has been enhanced by the promotion. The earlier driving force, teaching, has thus been exposed for a crowding-out effect. Due to the differences in motivation, the study also finds that the collaboration between colleagues is affected negatively by the introduction of the career opportunities. The clear distinction between teachers and first teachers will drive the once before homogenous profession into two groups with conflicting fundamental values on what motivates them in their chosen profession.