ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Teacher Education
Limitations to Teaching Relate to Teaching Quality but not to Teacher Job Satisfaction in Norway
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Teacher Education and School Reseach, University of Oslo, Norway, Oslo, Norway
- 2Universitetet i Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- 3Centre for Research on Equality in Education (CREATE), University of Oslo, Norway, Oslo, Norway
- 4Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway, Oslo, Norway
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Teaching quality is crucial for positive student outcomes, yet it can be limited by challenges in the classroom. In this study, we examine how teacher-reported limitations to teaching (e.g., student absenteeism, disruptive behaviour, lack of engagement, language barriers) relate to student-reported teaching quality. We also explore whether teacher job satisfaction mediates this relationship. Using data from the Norwegian extension of the TIMSS 2019 Grade 9 student questionnaire, we assess three dimensions of teaching quality based on the Three Basic Dimensions (TBD) framework. Results show that more frequent limitations to teaching are linked to lower student-reported quality. Specifically, we find that more satisfied teachers deliver clearer instruction and achieve better classroom management. However, we find no evidence that limitations to teaching are associated with lower job satisfaction, nor that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between limitations and teaching quality. We discuss implications for teacher education and educational policymaking.
Keywords: limitations to teaching, Norwegian context, Teachers' job satisfaction, teaching quality, TIMSS
Received: 08 Oct 2025; Accepted: 11 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Veletic, Nilsen and Steinmann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jelena Veletic
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