Teacher and influencer? Social media as arena for professional practice

On various social media teachers produce and share material with students, whom they don’t meet regularly in class. This form of teaching challenges a former view of the didactical contract.

Based on the concept of e-professionalism, the aim of the project is to deepen the knowledge about this new professional practice and its relevance for perceptions of a teacher as a profession including professional ethics.

The project highlights three themes: the role of teachers on social media, the role of teachers as representatives of a profession and the role of teachers as school developers and edu-influencers.

The theoretical framework is based on theories related to teachers´ autonomy, identification, knowledge base and professional ethics. The empirical material is collected in three sub-studies that are based on each other.

In total the empirical material consists of questionnaires with students in 90 different classes (lower secondary – upper secondary), content analysis of 30 published teaching sequences on social media in different subjects and 10 interviews with teachers who published these posts.

The project´s contribution is to make visible a current and growing field in teachers´ professional practice that is of great relevance for perceptions of the role of teachers and their professional ethics in society and school.

The project also contributes knowledge about which students seek help via teachers on social media, what the students demand and what they are offered.