Navigating Dual Roles: Professional Competence and Agency among School-Based Subject Teacher Educators

Year 2025, Volume: 14 Issue: 3, 240 - 258, 31.12.2025

Eliisa Vähä , Riikka Hirvonen , Kari Sormunen , Lasse Eronen

Abstract

School based subject teacher educators (SBSTE) work at the intersection of teaching and teacher education. This study explores Finnish SBSTEs self-perceived professional competences and professional agency in their dual roles, based on cross-sectional survey data (N=118) from university teacher training schools. Using subject-centered socio-cultural framework, the findings show that professional competences, especially content and contextual ones, were perceived as significantly stronger in the role of teacher than that of teacher educator. Similarly, professional agencies, particularly being heard and exerting influence at work, were weaker in the educator role. While SBSTEs’ higher professional competence often supported stronger agency, commitment to the work did not require deep contextual knowledge. A postgraduate degree, mentoring education, or work experience influenced perceived agency only in some cases, whereas the professional role made a difference in most cases. These role-based differences can be interpreted through socio-cultural workplace conditions, traditions of autonomy, and power dynamics, as supported by both earlier international studies and current findings

Keywords

teacher education , teacher training schools , school-based teacher educators , professional competence , professional agency

Ethical Statement

The researchers complied with the ethical guidelines for research in the humanities, social sciences, and behavioral sciences as established by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity.

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