With the introduction of a mandatory teacher license in 2011, Sweden had an aim to raise teacher quality in Swedish schools (Jarl & Rönnberg, 2019). However, the increasing need for more teachers as well as difficulties to find adequate positions that matched teachers’ certification introduced challenges to fulfil that aim (Hansson and Gustafsson, 2016). The current study investigates how different measures of teacher quality developed in Sweden during the past decade, particularly focusing the distribution of teacher quality across disadvantaged and privileged schools.

The Swedish Education Act 2010 emphasizes equality in education. Pupils should be provided equal education opportunities in terms of access and resources to promote their academic success, and education should work compensatory for those with special needs and disadvantaged backgrounds (Holmlund et al., 2020). The idea of compensatory allocation of resources can be related to the opportunity to learn (OTL) model which address the essential inputs and processes within a school context for students to achieve intended outcomes (Elliott & Bartlett, 2016). While socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to affect students’ achievement, there is a growing interest among scholars regarding what factors can compensate those with low achievements and disadvantaged home backgrounds (Nilsen et. al., 2020). One aspect of OTL framework may be the access to qualified teachers. However, students with low SES had been shown to have consistently less access to teachers with high qualifications than their more advantaged peers (Luschei & Jeong, 2018; Glassow & Jerrim, 2022).

In a Swedish context, Hansson and Gustafsson (2016) studied how teacher quality was distributed among Swedish schools using teacher and student register data between 1994 and 2011. The study showed a significant variation in the number of qualified teachers, with respect to the student-teacher ratio and the number of teachers whose teaching subjects were not matched with their teacher education among schools. While the schools whose students were eligible for mother tongue language learning, which indicated their immigration background, had a higher teacher density, they had a higher number of unqualified teachers, and teachers teaching subjects were more likely to be different from their subject specialization. The study also showed that teachers with high competence tended to work at schools where students had a high level of academic achievement, and which provided a higher salary and better working environment. Hansson and Gustafsson (2016) argued that results was influenced by decentralization and marketization reforms in 1991, which allowed municipalities and schools greater freedom employing teachers.

In 2011, another teacher education reform was introduced to increase the quality and specialization of teacher education. The reform divided the one common teacher education program of 2001 into separate programs for different subjects and age groups (Åstrand, 2017). In parallel, the reform introduced a teacher license, and the teacher education qualification requirement for employment has been stricter since then (Jarl & Rönnberg, 2019). What the results are of the policy intentions regarding increasing teacher quality and the need for more teachers has not been studied. An especially salient issue is how highly qualified teachers have been distributed across schools in the past decade regarding teacher qualification and subject specialization. Against this background, we stated the following research questions:

1. What is the proportion of teachers with a teacher license during 2013-2020 in Swedish secondary schools?
2. What proportion of teachers have a matched position, i.e., a teacher license relevant to the subjects and age groups they are educated for?
3. Are any differences with respect to the proportion of teachers with a license and matching as regards the distribution across schools (school areas, school types, and student social background)?

This study will obtain Swedish population data from the Teacher Register, and Student Register kept by Statistics Sweden. These data form part of the national follow-up system for the school sector run by the Swedish National Agency for Education to provide a comprehensive picture of educational activities and support for follow-up and evaluation at national and regional levels (Alatalo et al., 2021). The data on teachers is conducted annually and includes school staff with educational duties (teachers, assistant teachers and other educational staff, leisure teachers, leisure instructors, school leaders, and study and career counselors) in the school forms covered by the National Agency's National Monitoring System. The data has been collected since the late 1970s, and the structure and variables of the register have changed over the years. In the present study, we obtain data from 2013-2020. One reason was that the teacher register was updated in 2013 with more precise data on teachers' positions. Another reason was that we focused on the effects of introducing a compulsory teacher license in 2011. The present study will use the information on teachers' certification levels, the degree of match between teachers' licenses and positions, and their teaching experience measured in years. The teacher register will also provide data on the school location (Cities, suburbs, and rural areas) and school type (public or private). Student register data is also updated annually, and in the current study, we use student cohorts born between 1997 and 2004. Data include achievement data on subject grades and national tests in school year 9. It also holds information on the parental background and immigration background of each student. This information will allow us to study if formal teacher competence is equally distributed across schools, if the compensatory allocation of teacher resources is present, and whether the degree of matched positions will increase due to the teacher license demands. Regrettably, there is no link between students and their teachers. However, it is possible to conduct longitudinal analyses of the teacher characteristics at the school level, taking student characteristics into account. The analyses will mainly be carried out using descriptive statistics, using mean comparisons. Regression techniques such as growth curve modeling will also be considered where it is deemed appropriate. All data were derived from Statistics Sweden (SCB) and analyzed within the MONA (Microdata Online Access) system, which is Statistics Sweden's platform for access to microdata.

Results show that about 85% of teachers in grade 9 have received teacher education, although more is needed to specify this specific age group and the subject they are teaching. Our preliminary analyses suggest that this general level of certification status tends to decrease over time. The more precise measure, the matching between teacher position (subjects taught) and their teacher license, shows that approximately 80% of the teachers are teaching in a subject and grade that they were actually educated for. Furthermore, there are some notable discrepancies across schools: The proportion of teachers with a license does not differ much across privileged and disadvantaged schools, although there are indications that the gap increases over time – disadvantaged schools being on a lower level. However, the degree of matching is about 5-10% lower in disadvantaged schools, indicating difficulties in attracting teachers with adequate specializations. Regarding school type, we noted that private schools have a lower share of certified teachers and a lower degree of matching throughout the period (about 65%). The matching is particularly low at private schools where the students have a lower parental background. The results suggest that there is no compensatory allocation of teacher resources in Sweden; instead, the trend points to the opposite. Further analyses will shed light on the teacher resources in different school locations and any differences for various school subjects.

Alatalo, T., Hansson, &., & Johansson, S. (2021). Teachers' academic achievement: Evidence from Swedish longitudinal register data. European Journal of Teacher Education, Ahead-of-print(Ahead-of-print), 1-21. Åstrand, B. (2017). Swedish teacher education and the issue of fragmentation: Conditions for the struggle over academic rigour and professional relevance. In Hudson, B. (Eds.), Overcoming fragmentation in teacher education policy and practice (pp.101-152). Cambridge education research series. Elliott, Stephen N., & Brendan J. Bartlett. (2014, Mar.3). Opportunity to Learn. In Oxford Handbooks Editorial Board (Online Eds.), Oxford Handbook Topics in Psychology. Oxford Academic. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935291.013.70, accessed 30 Jan. 2023. Glassow, L., & Jerrim, J. (2022). Is inequitable teacher sorting on the rise? Cross-national evidence from 20 years of TIMSS. Large-scale Assessments in Education, 10(1), 1-20. Hansson, &., & Gustafsson, J. (2016). Pedagogisk segregation: Lärarkompetens i den svenska grundskolan ur ett likvärdighetsperspektiv. Pedagogisk Forskning I Sverige, 21(1-2), 56-78. Holmlund, H., Sjögren, A., Öckert, B., & Sverige. (2020). Jämlikhet i möjligheter och utfall i den svenska skolan (Rapport 2020:7). Institutet för arbetsmarknads- och utbildningspolitisk utvärdering (IFAU). Jarl, M., & Rönnberg, L. (2019). Skolpolitik : Från riksdagshus till klassrum (Tredje upplagan ed.). Luschei, T. F., & Jeong, D. W. (2018). Is Teacher Sorting a Global Phenomenon? Cross-National Evidence on the Nature and Correlates of Teacher Quality Opportunity Gaps. Educational Researcher, 47(9), 556–576. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X18794401 Nilsen, T., Scherer, R., Gustafsson, J., Teig, N., & Kaarstein, H. (2020) Teachers’ role in enhancing equity – A multilevel structural equation modelling with mediated moderation in Frønes, T., Pettersen, A., Radisić, J., & Buchholtz, N. (edit). Equity, Equality and Diversity in the Nordic Model of Education. Cham: Springer International Publishing AG. Scheerens, J., & Blömeke, S. (2016). Integrating teacher education effectiveness research into educational effectiveness models. Educational Research Review, 18, 70-87. doi: 10.1016/j.edurev.2016.03.002.