Conference Agenda

The symposium is committed to exploring, defining, and questioning the interplay and links between teacher ethics and teaching quality in Scandinavian schools. The guiding research for the Symposium is based on studies recently published in the edited volume Teacher Ethics and Teaching Quality in Scandinavian Schools: New Reflections, Future Challenges, and Global Impacts (Knudsen, et al., 2024). Theoretically, the contributions of the book vary but generally stem from a perception that the Scandinavian schools mirror the countries’ welfare systems and emphasize the democratic freedom and responsibility of both schools and individuals and democratic societies with respect for institutions and individuals (Colnerud & Granström, 1993).

In the symposium the three presentations both confirm and challenge the scope of this picture. On the one hand, Scandinavian schools represent a child-centred pedagogy where teachers have the autonomy to tailor their lessons to support students’ individual learning processes, prerequisites, and social, mental, and health conditions, which is also evident across the various Scandinavian teacher education and in-service training programs (Bergem et al., 1997). On the other hand, as the Scandinavian welfare systems change, so do the school systems, responding to new educational demands such as student testing and control. Hence, the core components of the school systems are under pressure (Moos, 2019).

This situation raises the opportunity to examine closely what is at stake, what changes are underway, and how these tendencies are global. In the symposium, the presenters discuss current developments in the Scandinavian school systems and explore how emerging educational ideas and practices can offer inspiration to educators in other European countries. As such, the symposium is dedicated to studying, characterizing, and challenging the relations and connections between teacher ethics and teaching quality in Scandinavian schools to inspire educational research beyond Scandinavia.

This paper explores the question of what the consequences are of the influx of new ideas and governance and education practices for Danish teachers’ ethics and quality of work. Over the past three to four decades, national governments have met a growing wealth of ideas and inspiration for education and governance reforms from transnational agencies like the OECD or the European Commission. Two discourses form the focus of the discussion: the outcomes-based discourse with transnational and national governance and policy roots and history, and the democratic Bildung discourse that builds on a selection of educational concepts and theories. Governing schools and teachers’ working conditions and aims have changed fundamentally over the past four to six decades partly due to the intake of new international forms of power and influence, as clearly illustrated in the Danish School Act of 2013 and, more generally, in the use of new forms of public sector governance and relations in contracts.

Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical Discourse Analysis. The Critical Study of Language. Harlow: Longman. Longman. Foucault, M. (1983). The subject and power. In H. L. D. P. Rainbow (Ed.), Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics (pp. 208-226). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Moos, L. (2014). Educational Governance in Denmark. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 13(4), 424-443. Moos, L. (2017). Neo-liberal Governance leads Education and Educational Leadership astray. In M. Uljens & R. Ylimaki (Eds.), Beyond Leadership, Curriculum and Didaktik. Dordrecht: Springer. Moos, L. (2018). Educating and Leading for World Citizenship: Through Technocratic Homogenisation or Communicative Diversity? Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education(NJCIE), 2(2-3), 7-24.

Teacher shortage is an increasingly problematic phenomenon across Europe. In many countries, this problem is addressed by introducing qualification frameworks that define teacher qualities, and these definitions are subsequently used to test whether a sufficient level of quality is present or not. However, the introduction of such testing regimes resulted in an objectification of teachers and disabled teacher agency (Biesta, 2023). Problematically, this objectification disregards that teachers need a personal ethical position to think, judge, and act as professionals. Testing regimes replaced the ethical position out of which teachers act with a consequentialist ethics that sees teachers as factors in the production of learning outcomes. However, recent studies indicate that high-stakes testing restricts professional learning and innovation at schools and has a negative effect on the teacher workforce (Darling-Hammond, 2021). This effect is also present in Nordic countries that introduced national testing regimes, namely Sweden and Denmark who struggle with teacher shortages (Böwadt et al., 2019). In Nordic countries, this led to a discussion on educational policy and the need to reframe teacher quality in more adequate ways (Moos, 2017). One possibility for such a reframing is to comprehend teacher quality through ethics of care (Wieser, 2024). Based on an international review of 122 articles on teacher retention, teachers stay on their job when four qualities are in place: (1) A teacher identity to manage a wide range of tasks, spanning from classroom interaction to lesson planning and administration. (2) Having professional autonomy over teaching, curriculum, and assessment. (3) Self-care and attention to well-being on the job. (4) A work environment that provides support and opportunities for exchange. Exploring these qualities, I argue that we should consider their common foundation in ethics of care: While the presence of care is obvious in the latter two qualities, it can also be found in the former two: From a care-ethical perspective, teacher tasks require an attitude of caring that is constituted by receptive attention to students. Concerning professional autonomy, I argue that teaching relies on building relations, a creative practice in which lack of control is fundamental, and thus requires teachers to be receptive and ‘supplied with intention’ (Noddings, 2013). Ethics of care thus takes a position fundamentally different from the consequentialist ethics of testing regimes and its universalist constructions of teacher quality, emphasizing interpersonal relations and asserting that partiality with persons and their particular situation has moral value.

Biesta, G. (2023). On Being a Teacher How to Respond to the Global Construction of Teachers and Their Teaching? In S. Krause, M. Proyer, & G. Kremsner (Eds.), The Making of Teachers in the Age of Migration: Critical Perspectives on the Politics of Education for Refugees, Immigrants and Minorities (pp. 15–31). Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350244184 Böwadt, P., Pedersen, R., & Katrine, N. (2019). Når Verdens bedste job bliver for hårdt En undersøgelse af, hvordan lærere har det i folkeskolen. Københavns Professionshøjskole. Darling-Hammond, L. (2021). Defining teaching quality around the world. European Journal of Teacher Education, 44(3), 295–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2021.1919080 Moos, L. (2017). Neo-liberal Governance Leads Education and Educational Leadership Astray. In M. Uljens & R. M. Ylimaki (Eds.), Bridging Educational Leadership, Curriculum Theory and Didaktik (Vol. 5, pp. 151–180). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58650-2_2 Noddings, N. (2013). Caring: A relational approach to ethics & moral education (Paperback ed., 2. ed., updated). Univ. of Calif. Press. Wieser, C. (2024). Teacher qualities that make teachers stay in the profession: Addressing teacher shortage in Nordic countries with ethics of care. In L. E. Damgaard Knudsen, M. Wiberg, K. Bjerg Petersen, & L. Haastrup (Eds.), Teacher ethics and teaching quality in Scandinavian schools: New reflections, future challenges, and global impacts. Routledge.

This paper builds on insights from the symposium book 'Teacher Ethics and Teaching Quality in Scandinavian Schools: New Reflections, Future Challenges, and Global Impacts,' as well as my own research. It aims to spark a discussion on teacher ethics, teaching, and quality in the context of Scandinavian schools, emphasizing the inherent European dimension. By comparing Scandinavian perspectives with global viewpoints, the paper addresses the necessity for research to navigate the challenges, opportunities, and potential issues intertwined with the teaching profession, professional ethics, teacher professionalism, and quality. The paper intricately examines three core themes: (1) a critical analysis of 'quality' in teaching, (2) a scrutiny of the objectives of education and the criteria used to assess quality, and (3) an exploration of the complex connection between teacher quality, quality teaching, and the cultivation of an ethics of care in teaching. This analytical exploration sheds light on various aspects such as teacher quality, ethical considerations in teaching, and the essential conditions supporting teachers' sustained dedication to their profession. Furthermore, the research highlights the importance of understanding the intricate and diverse global teaching landscapes. The paper positions itself within a global context, fostering a nuanced understanding of teacher ethics, teaching practices, and quality. This approach acknowledges the interconnectedness of educational systems and underscores the significance of diverse perspectives in shaping the future of teaching globally.

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