Teachers in urban schools: working in segregated cities

Socio-spatial segregation and school segregation influence the social composition of pupils in urban schools. We know relatively much about children and young people attending schools in cities, but less about teachers working in them. This article shows how teachers working in segregated cities describe different forms of segregation as a precondition and working environment in their daily tasks, and how they perceive relevant ways of reducing the consequences of segregation. We apply thematic analysis to semi-structured interviews with 27 subject teachers, special education teachers and class teachers working in urban comprehensive schools in cities across Finland. The results indicate that these teachers intentionally choose to remain working in schools in cities rather than in the suburbs and rural areas because they see the value of teaching in urban settings. They see how socio-spatial segregation and middle-class parental practices of school choice contribute to school segregation, but in their work, they aim to diminish its consequences. Some of these urban schools are in disadvantaged areas, but if sufficiently resourced, this does not make teachers leave; actually, quite the opposite. The teachers consider their task as teachers in urban disadvantaged schools highly significant in the lives of the children and young people attending them. Thus, despite wishing for increasing segregation to end, they aim to stay and make a difference.