The aim of this study is to describe and analyze how leisure time teachers with over 30 years of experience reason about their work and professional developmentover time. Moreover, to investigate what kind of qualities that may promote a long and sustainable career in the profession.

 The theoretical framework is informed by profession theories where knowledge base and professional development are used asanalyticalconcepts (Brante, 2014). Data consists of interviews with 12 leisure time teachers. The methodological design also includes a meeting between the informants and 6 students at the end of theirteacher education.

The results show that the profession has no clear career paths which may be a reason to stay in the profession. Another reason to remain in the profession is a number of success factors identified by the informants; children, challenges, after-school pedagogy and work in teams are considered important qualities for a sustainable career in the profession. The professionals emphasize that cooperation with the school have helped to increase confidence in their own skills and professional knowledge. On the other hand, the students describe the dual task of working at both schools and leisure time centres as problematic.  Students also emphasizes that teachers' interaction with children are a part of the professional knowledge base which is based on proven experience

 Few studies so far have highlighted the leisure time teachers` work and professional development over time which can be an important question to discuss among Nordic researchers. Therefore this study is of interest and also to raise further issues that needs to be explored.