Teachers' professional dispositions: Foundations for the immobile mobility in the diversified Swedish school market

Abstract

Previous research has shown that when teachers in segregated school markets change jobs, they transfer to schools with similar pupil composition as the school from which they transferred. One explanation for this immobile mobility is that teachers develop context-related professional principles only suitable for one type of school context. This is conceptualised as a professional disposition. From interviews with secondary schoolteachers, three different types of professional disposition have been discovered: pragmatic, idea-driven and traditional. In this paper these are presented and related to a school market with reinforced school segregation and increased pedagogical and organisational diversity. • Professional disposition conceptualises the connection between individual professional principles and structural conditions of the school where the teacher is employed. • In a segregated and diversified school market, three types of professional dispositions have been identified: pragmatic, idea-driven and traditional. • Professional dispositions can explain the immobile labour market pattern in the diversified school market.