It is undisputable that the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affected schools all over the world. When teaching and learning was moved online overnight in Icelandic upper secondary schools due to the pandemic, it posed significant challenges for teachers and school leaders. Teachers were required to instantly adapt their teaching practices and course plans to a digital environment and convert immediately to a situation that has be called emergency remote teaching (ERT, Barbour et. al., 2020) and school leaders needed constantly to rethink the operation of the schools. This condition lasted with certain variations for almost a whole year. The unusual situation offers a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of a sudden crisis as well as if and how the upper secondary school changes in its wake. 

The data is connected with general discussion of the last decades about the future and the role of education, among them the so called 21^st century skills (P21 Framework for 21^st century learning, 2019). Many have called for meaningful conversations about these issues, rather than the measurement of educational success that tend to dominate educational discourse (see e.g. Biesta, 2009). Such benchmarks, firmly rooted in neo-liberalism, often emerge as commands from above that deprive teachers of their agency (Ashbridge et. al., 2021; Clarke et. al., 2021), the latter closely linked to teacher’s job satisfaction and professionalism (Ingvarsdóttir, 2018; Pearson & Moomaw, 2005). The possible difference between the views of school leaders and teachers is an interesting issue in this context (Gestsdóttir et.  al., 2020; Ragnarsdóttir, 2018; 2021).

The aim of the paper is to investigate teacher’s and school leader’s vision of the possible development of the upper secondary school, its aims and its future, from the vantage point provided by the pandemic crisis. The way teachers adapted and changed their teaching practices and their views on administrative support will be discussed, as well as their professional development and cooperation when evolving education. School leaders’ and teachers’ ideas of the lasting influence of this situation are also considered and compared with ideas that have emerged from similar investigations in other parts of the world (see e.g. Zhao & Watterston, 2021).

The research is based on data from a comprehensive study entitled Upper secondary education and COVID-19: crisis, challenges and adaptability (supported by the Icelandic centre for research, Project grant 217900-051). Twelve teachers and six school leaders from three upper secondary schools were interviewed in November 2020–March 2021. One of the schools is in a rural area, the others are two different schools in the metropolitan area. One of the school where grammar and two comprehensive. Purposive sampling was used to select schools and interviewees to cover various situations and experiences. Gender balance was considered, as well as working experience and subjects taught. Teachers who had either struggled with adapting their teaching to the ERT or who had found it relatively easy to do were interviewed. The school directors of each school were interviewed and another school leader, selected randomly from the middle management layer of each school. Since the results presented no discernible difference between genders or school subjects all interviewees are addressed as masculine to guard anonymity (ref). The interviews lasted from 90–130 minutes. They were transcribed verbatim and coded to look for recurrent themes, four of which are discussed in the presentation: the social importance of the upper secondary school, professional development and cooperation during a pandemic, teaching strategies during a pandemic and the possibility of a more flexible upper secondary school as a result of the pandemic.

The results show that teachers worked hard in overcoming the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and early 2021, mainly by adapting more flexibility in all schoolwork. Consequently, teachers and school leaders alike envisage a more open and flexible school where IT is used to modify teaching strategies and assessment practices. Overall, pedagogical support seems to have been insufficient since school leaders focussed on providing technical assistance, leaving the pedagogical aspect to the professional capability of the teachers, many of whom relied very much on their colleagues. Participants have gained a new vision of the role of the upper secondary school which may build more upon social values, fellowship, student activity and increased flexibility. These values go against the current trend of neo-liberalism in education. Professional development evolved differently in the three schools, but participants agreed that neither had they ever made as drastic changes to their teaching as they did during ERT nor learned as much. The results showed that teacher’s professionalism was very much relied upon under these circumstances. However, there can be a fine line between teacher autonomy and lack of support since most teachers would have liked more pedagogical support when changing their teaching practices. The same goes for the flexibility mentioned which may also impede teacher autonomy. It is therefore important that teachers participate actively in the future discussion about the purposes of upper secondary education and the school development, including their own professional development. The results are an important contribution to the ongoing discourse on the development of upper secondary education where teacher’s point of view needs to be prominent. The findings demonstrate the experience of different stakeholders who underwent a sudden shift in their profession.

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