Abstract:

The empirical study deals with the topic of professional autonomy of beginning teachers, which has not been described yet in Czech pedagogy. The opportunity to influence how a teacher reflects and evaluates his/her professional autonomy seems to be important for beginning teacher employers as well as for teacher educators.

The aim of this empirical study is to find out whether beginning teachers reflect professional autonomy and, if so, to analyze how they reflect it. Another aim is to define professional autonomy and describe whether and how it is linked to job satisfaction.

The research is part of a long-term research entitled Selected Aspects of Forming the Professional Beliefs of Beginning Teachers. The research took place over a period of 5 years, in qualitative design, in an author's combination of methods of data collection, processing and interpretation. The research sample consisted of 7 beginning teachers with a length of practice of less than 3 years, employed in 5 different secondary schools in the Czech Republic. Data were obtained gradually, to saturation. It was obtained by the method of autonomous writing. The addressed respondents wrote the answers to the assignment, which was: What do you think is professional autonomy and how could it be defined? Please describe in detail when and how you use your professional - teacher autonomy within the profession, describe and, if applicable. I analyze specific situations. Describe how you work (handle) with this professional autonomy and what it brings you.

Already during the collection, the data were gradually processed by open and axial coding according to Strauss and Corbin. After full saturation of the data, the final recoding took place. The results of both coded files were compared. Finally, they were subjected to selective coding, aimed at expressing the final theory of the phenomenon of professional autonomy of teachers. The conclusions were verified using member checking, the intention of which was to verify directly with the researched group whether the conclusions are understandable for the respondents and correspond to their beliefs about the phenomenon.

Research has shown that respondents define professional autonomy as a positively assessed independence and individuality in professional decision-making, associated with responsibility for the decisions made, which is reflected in varying degrees of burden. Respondents combine personal autonomy with professional autonomy. They pointed out the possibility of development and influencing the development of autonomy by the individual. They do not consider autonomy, both personal and professional, as a static phenomenon, but as a dynamically variable and controllable phenomenon. The results showed a perception of (in)adequacy of professional autonomy. Depending on the situation and conditions, it can be assessed as adequate, then the teacher actively uses it and verbalizes it as freedom and opportunity to exercise professionalism, or as inadequate and then he is forced to use it as well, but it causes him difficulties and dissatisfaction. Inadequately perceived professional autonomy is reflected by some respondents as excessively high, burdensome, even unmanageable in some respects, while others reflect professional autonomy as insufficient or even limiting in independent decision-making.

Keywords:

Teacher autonomy, professional autonomy, beginning teacher, satisfaction in the profession.