This essay discusses the decision of licensing for nursery and school teachers. In Swedish society there has for a long time been discourse about professionalisation within various industries, including teaching. One strategy towards achieving professional status is official authorisation of a profession, which occurs when a profession obtains licensing. In February 2011, the Swedish government announced the decision that nursery and school teachers would be licensed. This means that only those with an education can be employed as a teacher and obtain that license. The Swedish school has a long tradition of both educated and uneducated personnel who can work as a teacher, so the introduction of licensing for teachers is a radical change and will affect all personnel within the school system. In this essay I aim to present previous research relevant to the study such as status, profession, background history regarding the preschool and its development.

My interest lies in how licensing is perceived by preschool directors and what their perception is of nursery teaching as a profession. In my study, I chose to interview four nursery directors using a qualitative interview method, with a phenomenological and hermeneutic perspective. From the study emerge rich descriptions of the phenomenon, perceptions about both the licensing and profession of nursery teacher