Post‑Pandemic Shifts in Teacher Professional Development, Practices, and Well‑Being Across Four Nordic Education Systems
Evidence from TALIS 2018‑2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7577/njcie.6514Nyckelord:
Teacher Well-Being, Job demands resources, TALIS, Resilience, Nordic EducationAbstract
This study examines post-pandemic changes in professional development, teaching practices, and well-being in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden using data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018 and 2024. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework and informed by governance typologies as a comparative contextual lens, the study uses a repeated cross-sectional design to compare indicators of professional development, teaching practices, job satisfaction, and work-related stress before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings show distinct post-pandemic adaptation patterns across the four Nordic systems. Denmark combined reduced participation in professional development on core pedagogical competencies with increased participation in inclusive classroom practices, lower work-related stress, and improved job satisfaction. Finland experienced the sharpest decline in participation in core pedagogical competencies alongside rising work-related stress and lower job satisfaction. Norway substantially increased professional development but also recorded the largest increase in work-related stress and the sharpest decline in job satisfaction, suggesting that resource expansion alone did not offset growing demands. Sweden showed comparatively stable patterns, with modest increases in work-related stress and largely stable job satisfaction despite changes in professional development and classroom management practices. Interpreted through the JD-R framework, Denmark reflected gain-spiral resilience, Sweden equilibrium stability, Finland demand-expanding strain, and Norway loss-spiral vulnerability. Overall, the findings suggest that post-pandemic adaptation followed distinct patterns across the four Nordic systems and depended less on professional development alone than on how education systems balanced professional resources and work-related demands over time.
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