Pedagogical leader, systematic planner and dedicated developer wanted: professional standards in ECEC teacher recruitment

Professional standards have long shaped discourses around teachers’ work and the professionalisation of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) teachers. This study investigates how such standards are reflected in teacher recruitment by analysing 322 job advertisements for ECEC teacher positions in Finland. A deductive qualitative content analysis was conducted, using the professional standards developed in the Nordic context (Havnes, 2018), allowing a structured, indirect comparison across the region. The findings reveal a strong emphasis on the ECEC teacher’s role in (1) leading, designing and developing pedagogical practice, mentioned in approximately three-quarters of the advertisements. Standards related to (2) prioritising the child and (3) promoting professionalism appeared in about half of the advertisements, while references to (4) broader organisational development were present in only a quarter. This research contributes to the discourse on teacher professionalism – particularly by foregrounding the often-overlooked perspective of employers – and enriches the limited literature on ECEC recruitment.