This article examines intercultural learning as a lifelong process. The data on which the article is based consist of 10 biographical interviews in which Finnish teachers were asked to talk about their lives from the perspective of intercultural learning. The analysis of the interviews showed that other people were involved in many of the experiences being referred to, and that these individuals played an important role in the stories. This article, therefore, focuses on the role of significant others in the intercultural learning of teachers. Three roles of significant others that arose from the data are introduced: transforming attitudes towards diversity; awakening and developing intercultural awareness; and developing ethical orientation.
This narrative research focuses on two questions: how do work and, what kind of strategies does a beginning teacher use when negotiating emotionally intensive situations in the micropolitical context of the school? The research material consists of three narrative interviews with one beginning Finnish secondary teacher. The results illustrate the significance of school work and the various relational and emotional aspects that are present when a beginning teacher tries to balance edge about how beginning teachers learn to negotiate emotionally intensive situations and use various strategies in the micropolitical context of their work.
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