Reform Policy and Teacher Professionalism in four Nordic Countries

This paper deals with the question of how therestructuring of educational systems in theNordic countries affects education, as well aswhat it means to be a teacher. It is based onresults from the project, ``Restructuringin education: Reform policy and teacherprofessionalism in different Nordic contexts,''where the construction of the teacher(s) in theNordic countries is described and analyzed.According to several scholars in the field theconsequence of restructuring is a growinginstrumentalism. Teaching is said to beincreasingly managerial in nature, both asteachers are managed, and in turn,manage others. However, our analysis showsdifferent alternatives in how the stateregulates and governs teachers through moresensitive, nuanced and contextual descriptionsof the restructuring phenomenon.