The control of time in teachers’ work. How teachers co-construct narratives about their profession in social media groups

This paper explores how teachers in a Swedish teacher "rebellion" group on Facebook discuss institutional expectations related to the use of time in teachers' work. Drawing on a narrative research tradition, group discussions are analyzed as negotiations where teachers co-construct their own narratives about the teaching profession. In this endeavor, the analytical focus is turned towards how the teachers' discussions relate to notions of professional responsibility and accountability. The results highlight that the teachers emphasize a desire to be trusted, but also that they need to deserve such trust by acting responsibly towards the needs of the whole school. Group discussions on these matters illustrate a tension between teachers' individual autonomy and collective responsibility. While the teachers emphasize teaching-related duties as the core part of their work, their narratives about the professional teacher were constructed in argumentations where the room for discussing social and relational aspects of education was limited.