The social contexts of teachers’ professional choices and teacher segregation

School and residential segregation are well-documented phenomena in many contexts, but little is known about teachers’ professional choices in relation to segregation. This study focuses on the social contexts of teachers’ professional choices of workplace and the construction of teacher segregation, that is, the regionally uneven distribution of staff in different areas (urban vs rural; affluent vs disadvantaged). The professional choices of workplace of subject teachers are explored through the lens of life domains of residence and work. Semi-structured interviews with 24 subject teachers working in Finland were analysed using thematic analysis. The teachers’ choices of workplace were somewhat mediated by residential and school segregation but most strongly intertwined with the lack of provision of open (permanent) positions at the labour market. The teachers’ private lives (family life and privacy, relations to home region and salary) and residential choices were essentially influenced by the choice of workplace. At the core of the professional choices were the dynamic and locally formulated relations between the labour market, forms of school segregation and residential segregation, which as a combination may contribute to emerging teacher segregation.