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Abstract

The present study examines how teachers in school-age educare view their profession in terms of job tasks, work situation and their need for and attitude towards teaching assistants. The study was conducted in two steps. Firstly, 61 school-age educare teachers answered an online survey. Based on the results of the survey, eight fictitious employment advertisements were constructed with different job descriptions. During a staff development day, 44 school-age educare teachers prioritized the various announcements based on their needs for an additional resource. The priorities were then discussed in seminar form. The results show that there is large variation in all the tasks performed within the framework of the school-age educare teachers’ professional practice, which is discussed here from a professional theoretical perspective. The profession’s area of responsibility is extensive, ranging from certified teaching duties to simple practical tasks that are often time-consuming. The work is, therefore, often experienced as stressful and fragmented. Clearly, there are different directions of will regarding the professional development and positioning. From the data, three types of school-age educare teachers emerged; common to these types is that the task as a substitute in the school is not desirable.