In late February of 2020 the first COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Iceland. The Icelandic government declared a four-week assembly ban, which included various restrictions that forced teachers to change their teaching methods and organisation. COVID-19 restrictions in schools forced school leaders and teachers to react quickly and organise and implement students’ education according to constantly changing rules as the pandemic evolved. Teachers in each school were suddenly given new positions as entrepreneurs but at the same time were expected to maintain educational standards. These changed circumstances imposed new challenges within the schools, for example which competence criteria should be highlighted above others, which teaching methods should be used, what teaching platform to use and how to assess students’ work.

There is a general agreement among scholars that teaching quality is decisive in student learning and has more effect on achievement than several other factors, including socio-economic background, class size, classroom climate, and teacher’s years of experience and formal training (Hanushek et al., 2014; Hattie, 2009; Sanders and Horn, 1998). In fact, teachers are seen as the single largest value adding factor in student learning (Sanders and Horn, 1998). However, even if scholars agree that teaching quality is a crucial factor in student learning, there is little consensus as to what exactly teaching quality is and in what specific ways it makes a difference in student outcomes.

Even though there is some lack of theoretical clarity, a growing consensus supports a few common dimensions for teaching quality. These dimensions relate to the clarity of instruction, classroom discourse, cognitive activation, and supportive climate (Klette et al., 2017).

Teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic is a new mode of crisis situation that the world has not seen in modern times. The concept of teacher professionalism (Aðalbjarnardóttir, 2002) has thus been highlighted in relations to the pandemic and education and especially how teachers respond to new professional challenges. When COVID-19 restrictions became a reality in mid-March of 2020, most teachers instantly had to adapt to remote teaching practices. Teachers were, therefore, tasked with choosing a learning platform and creating a new learning environment to meet the COVID-19 restrictions. Being responsive to new challenges is, according to the National curriculum guide for compulsory schools (MESC, 2012), one of many responsibilities of teachers. They need to provide students with a learning environment that is diverse, supportive, encouraging and stimulating. Therefore, teachers need to be reactive in new situations and quick to adapt the learning environment to the needs of students so that they can flourish socially and academically (Guðjónsdóttir and Óskarsdóttir, 2016).

A large part of teachers’ work is collaboration; collaboration with colleagues within the school, parents and guardians and the specialists that each student needs at any given time. The number of professionals, other than classroom teachers, has been increasing in Icelandic schools. However, a study by Matthíasdóttir et al. (2013), showed that cooperation between classroom teachers and specialized teachers lacks effectiveness due to lack of active collaboration. There is a strong connection between collaboration of any kind and the ideology of a learning community, which implementation in schools can strengthen infrastructure and reform in the school system (European Agency, 2017). The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted even further the importance of active collaboration between teachers since change brings opportunities for innovative solutions, and the possibility to learn from others.

The aim of this study was to gain insight into the experience of teachers during this time and how it affected teachers' professional collaboration and teaching quality. 

Our approach is phenomenological in nature as the focus is on the experience from the first-person point of view. We aim to describe, understand, and interpret the meanings of participant’s experiences (Creswell, 2012). The study was conducted in Iceland during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in April 2020 at the time of the first assembly ban posed by the Icelandic government. Semi structured interviews were conducted with 13 teachers from three Icelandic compulsory schools, where 8 were classroom teachers and 5 were special education teachers. The interviews were conducted in April, before the 4th of May 2020 when the first assembly ban was lifted, and schools were able to operate normally again. Two of the participating schools are in the capital area and one is in an urban area. The schools differ in terms of size and practices and the pandemic affected them differently. Due to the assembly ban and social distancing guidelines that were being enforced at the time, all the interviews took place via the Google Meet account of one of the researchers that had been assessed specifically with regard to privacy (Þorsteinsdóttir, 2020). We used open-ended questions aligned with the objectives of the study and the phenomenological approach highlighting the first-person point of view and participants’ experience. The questions used were pre-tested with two teachers. The questions that guided the interviews were grouped in six categories: (1) general (thoughts on COVID-19), (2) well-being and support, (3) teaching and working environment, (4) responsibility and duties, (5) the future and (6) other issues. Both the categories and the questions were formulated according to the National Curriculum regarding the role of schools and teachers’ responsibilities as well as discussion among teachers and teachers’ unions regarding teacher and student roles and well-being. The interviews were transcribed (Creswell, 2012) and preliminary analysis was done parallel with transcription of the interviews: step 1 and 2 by Braun et al., (2018) and followed with steps 3 to 6 in Braun et al., (2018) framework of thematic analysis. The language of the interviews was Icelandic, as all participants and researchers are native Icelandic speakers. Direct quotes were translated into English. All privacy considerations were according to Icelandic data protection and the processing of personal data act (no 90/2018). To ensure anonymity and prevent traceability, teachers were all given pseudonyms.

The teachers in this study told how they tried to keep up with academic requirements by prioritising core subjects, e.g. mathematics and Icelandic, above other subjects and tried to cover as much material as possible in the shortest possible time. As time passed, the teachers said they shifted the focus from academic demands towards supporting students’ mental health and well-being. By doing so teachers prioritised what they thought was most important for students and set aside one of the main aims of education – the academic requirements. A new challenge led to changed mindset and practices. In the situation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the teachers were all placed in unprecedented circumstances. Among the major changes was the shift from face-to-face interactions with colleagues at their workplace to mostly working remotely from home. Surprisingly they experienced an increased and even more focused collaboration with peers and teamwork that expanded during this period. The teachers in this research thus report actions that can be related to important characteristics of a learning community, such as mutual professional support for teaching and learning, solution-oriented dialogue, and reflection During the COVID restrictions, prior frameworks used by teachers were largely overlooked and students were given increased freedom as well as more responsibility for their own studies. One teacher pointed out that students were able to do better when the teachers were not spoon-feeding the material to them, and they had to rely on their imagination and creativity instead. The teachers all believed that the situation created by COVID-19 had affected their mental well-being in some way. They all put on a brave face but said that they had experienced powerlessness, restlessness, uncertainty, a little fear, restraint, and chaos.

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