The purpose of education can broadly be understood as an intervention into the lives of the students for the sake of their well-being, and for the continuation of society. Teachers are given a responsibility for educating the young, a responsibility being expressed in various policy documents on different levels. However, as these documents are in constant need of interpretation, and sometimes are vague and even contradict each other, teachers are left to interpret what their responsibility entails in everyday situations.

The empirical material consists of teacher interviews. These accounts of teachers’ felt responsibility for promoting their students’ well-being, are compared to teacher responsibility as expressed in contemporary research on social and moral responsibility within education. A central approach in this paper is the assumption that the ways people speak about their experiences, has the potential for widening the understanding of teachers’ work in relation to value issues.

The results answers questions about the possibilities for understanding the notion of teacher responsibility without overlooking the dynamics expressed in teachers’ descriptions of responsibility in everyday work situations.