Early career teachers’ beliefs and management of work intensification in Norway and Spain

Abstract This article provides a comparative analysis of primary and secondary early career teachers (ECTs) in Norwegian and Spanish schools. We compared ECTs’ beliefs on what work intensification involves and the ways they address it at their workplaces across these two different national contexts. The theory of practice architectures is used as an analytical lens to thematically examine data from two qualitative studies that involved semi-structured interviews with 26 Norwegian and 23 Spanish ECTs, plus four Spanish focus groups. The participating ECTs from both countries described tensions linked to the responsibility in work and tensions linked to relational work. The lack of resources in schools had a negative influence on the teachers’ work, especially to plan and perform student-active teaching and inclusive education. The ECTs faced tensions in sustaining positive relations for all their students and parents but reached out to their colleagues for support. This article discusses how ECTs in both countries manage work intensification in their practice by using strategies of ‘being less responsible’, ‘lowered work standards’, and detachment. The theory of practice architectures helped to widen our understanding of work intensification and how teachers could manage it.