Joy in professional work with children and youth within the educational context is frequently treated as a private, incidental experience rather than a meaningful dimension of pedagogical quality and professional sustainability. In this paper, joy is conceptualized as a relational and situational phenomenon emerging from meaningful interactions, mutual recognition, and a sense of professional agency (DiGregorio & Liston 2020, Fredrickson 2001, Hargreaves 1998, Roberts & Appiah 2025). Thus, joy is understood as professional well-being. Rather than being linked to exceptional or extraordinary events, joy can be found to arise frequently in ordinary situations embedded in everyday practice.

Research in education and youth work has predominantly focused on stress, burnout, and risk (Maslach et al. 2001, Hargreaves 1998), leaving positive emotional experiences underexplored. Teachers who experience joy in teaching report a willingness to learn and appreciate the diverse students they work with (Alisaari et al. 2022, Nieto 2013). Caring, which can happen while being present and promoting the well-being of others and oneself, is essential to teachers’ well-being, and can be seen as a source of joy (Alisaari et al. 2022, Nilsson et al. 2015). Also, positive interactions between teachers and students, as well as teachers’ work satisfaction supports their well-being (Soini et al. 2010). The pedagogical joy and well-being experienced by teachers has been shown to translate into higher quality teaching and higher student well-being (see, e.g. Nieto 2013, Soini et al 2010). This paper argues that joy should be understood as a significant indicator of relational quality, professional meaning, and sustainable practice in everyday work with children and youth.

The aim of the study is to explore when and how joy emerges in everyday professional practice within the educational context and how increased awareness of joyful moments can inform intentional changes in daily work routines. Situated within a European context, this study aims to add to ongoing discussions on professional well-being, and quality in child and youth work. In this study, the focus is on pre-service and in-service teachers as well as paraprofessionals from European and North American contexts. The comparative nature of the study, including different target groups working with children and youth, as well as the differing national contexts, aims to contribute to a better understanding of the universal benefit of joy for professionals’ well-being.

The central research question guiding the enquiry is: In which situations do professionals working with children and youth experience the greatest sense of joy, and how can these moments be intentionally increased within everyday practice? Sub-questions include whether joyful moments correspond with the participants’ initial assumptions, whether they recur in similar contexts, and which relational, temporal, or activity-related factors contribute most strongly to these experiences. The data is collected using a structured reflective assignment entitled Joy in Working (with Children and Youth), which combines initial self-reflection, systematic self-observation, comparative analysis, and action-oriented reflection. Data were analyzed using the Gioia methodology (Gioia et al., 2013), a variant of grounded theory. The findings suggest that joyful moments most often occur during informal interactions, dialogical exchanges, and activities that allow for creativity, presence, and authentic engagement with children and youth. In several cases, the observations challenged initial assumptions, revealing that joy was less connected to formally planned or outcome-driven activities than expected. Increased reflective awareness enabled the identification of conditions under which joy flourishes and highlighted opportunities for intentional change.

It demonstrates that reflective self-observation is a low-threshold, transferable method that supports professionals in recognizing joy as a valuable resource for both personal well-being and pedagogical practice.

This multi-national study with n~150 participants being pre-service teachers, paraprofessionals, mother tongue teachers, and second language teachers from five countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, USA) employs a qualitative reflective self-study methodology (Schön 1992, Loughran, 2007, Tidwell et al. 2009) grounded in everyday professional practice with children and youth. The design consists of four sequential phases that the participants worked individually on: 1) initial reflection, 2) systematic self-observation, 3) reflective comparison, and 4) action-oriented reflection. The approach aims to generate situated, practice-based knowledge. The first phase involved an initial reflection conducted prior to data collection. The participants were asked to briefly and intuitively identify the activity or aspect of their professional work that they believed generated the most joy. This step served to surface implicit assumptions and expectations, which later functioned as a point of comparison during the participants’ individual analysis. The second phase consisted of systematic self-observation over a two-week period. During this time, moments of joy experienced in daily work were documented as they occurred. No minimum number of entries was required in order to avoid producing artificial or forced observations. The format of documentation was flexible and chosen by the participant to support immediacy and authenticity. In the third phase, all notes were gathered and analyzed through a comparative reflective process. The analysis focused on identifying recurring themes, similarities, and differences across the recorded moments. Guiding questions addressed whether similar situations appeared repeatedly, whether joy was linked to specific circumstances, and whether the observations aligned with or contradicted the initial assumptions recorded in the first phase. The fourth phase translated reflection into action. Based on the patterns identified, the participant reflected on practical steps that could increase joyful moments in everyday practice. This included considering which changes could be implemented individually and which would require support from colleagues or organizational structures. The emphasis was placed on small, realistic actions rather than large-scale interventions. The data only collected hypothetical changes rather than following up on actual interventions. Data were analyzed using the Gioia methodology, a variant of grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), which is grounded in an interpretive epistemological approach and integrates inductive and deductive elements through a structured yet flexible coding process (Gioia et al., 2013). Ethically, the study focused exclusively on the participant’s own experiences and perceptions. No identifying information about children, youth, or colleagues was recorded.

While existing research highlights burnout and stress in child and youth work, this study contributes a strengths-based, micro-level perspective by foregrounding joy as an analytical lens. The paper adds an empirically grounded, practitioner-informed reflection that complements broader well-being research. The study demonstrates that joy in working with children and youth is an integral part of everyday professional practice rather than a rare or exceptional experience. Through structured self-observation and reflection, joy emerged primarily in relational, spontaneous, and meaningful interactions. This is in line with previous research stating that teachers often find joy in the positive interactions with students, and in what their students brought to their work, for example, their motivation to learn and their successes (Alisaari et al 2022, Soini et al. 2010). These findings challenge deficit-oriented perspectives that dominate discussions of professional well-being and instead highlight joy as a valuable analytical and pedagogical resource, as joy has been previously shown to increase the quality of teaching and higher student well-being (Nieto 2013). A key conclusion is that reflective awareness plays a crucial role in recognizing joy. Many joyful moments had previously gone unnoticed or been taken for granted. The process of systematic reflection made these moments visible and allowed them to be understood as meaningful aspects of professional practice rather than incidental emotions. The comparison between initial assumptions and observed experiences further revealed that professionals may misjudge which aspects of their work truly sustain them. From a European perspective, the study contributes to current debates on sustainable professional practice, educator well-being, and quality in child and youth work. It demonstrates that reflective self-study is a low-threshold method that can be applied across diverse contexts. The findings underline the importance of taking joy seriously as a resource for professional sustainability and pedagogical quality.

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