Few would argue the notion that teachers’ work is complex; however, most do not ask how or why it is complex. The present article seeks to disentangle and illuminate different aspects of complexity in teaching, along with the relation between complexity and teacher professionality. For this purpose I make use of curriculum theory and research on professionality. I ask, does a teacher who handles complexity well equal a professional teacher?

In the conceptual analysis, complexity in teaching is, for analytical purposes, divided into aspects: complexity of meaning, complexity of content, complexity of means and complexity of purposes, which teachers are left to deal with. Teacher professionality is described as the instantiation of teacher professionalism, belonging to a community of professionals. The relation between the two is further discussed, as well as how teacher professionality was and is conceived in different and dynamic circumstances.

In these times of globalized educational reform and neo-liberal educational agendas, the concept of teacher professionality is taking different shapes. Some suggest the rise of the new professional (cf Robertson 1996), an entrepreneur with eyes on the prize, loyal towards her or his employers, as opposed to the activist professional (Apple 2008;Groundwater-Smith & Sachs 2002) who considers wider human and societal aims. In conclusion, the ability to deal well with complexity can be viewed as a basis of teacher professionality. But can the teacher act professionally when possibilities for doing so are severely circumcised? And according to whom and towards which purposes are s/he supposed to act? The relation between professionality and complexity is everything but straightforward.