The purpose of this study was to explore the role of special education professionals in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in light of educational policies and reforms. The study places emphasis on (a) the policy context of inclusion and special needs education, (b) the formal qualifications required of special education professionals, and (c)…

Migration to Europe in recent years has made the issue of educational support for recently arrived immigrant pupils critically important, and, especially for pupils who are in need of special educational support. Schools in Sweden have special needs educators (SNEs) supporting pupils in need of special education, but little is known about the work…

This article presents a comparative interview study (N = 45) with Swedish and German special educators working in inclusive school settings in order to gain an understanding of how inclusive education is operationalized by the provision of special education needs (SEN) support; and how both aspects are conditioned by nation-specific…

Background: Children develop within a complicated and dynamic textual world. In the primary school classroom, one of the most important tasks for teachers involves the design of learning environments and situations that can support all students' literacy development. Although the identification of students with weaker skills is relatively well…

As society has gotten increasingly digitalized, schools have made extensive efforts to accommodate to that development. With the digitalization of school, the special education practice and the roles of special education needs coordinators (SENCOs) and special education teachers (SETs) change. However, there is a lack of research examining this…

Background: Through their leadership, principals have an important, yet typically indirect, effect on pupils' learning. This article focuses attention on principals' influences on teaching and assessment in special education in Sweden: specifically, in special schools for pupils with intellectual disabilities (SID). Whilst SID principals are…

This article presents the findings from an interview study with 12 subject teachers and special educators in three Swedish lower secondary schools. The purpose of the study was to explore how school professionals perceive and respond to dilemmas related to inclusive education that require prioritizations between conflicting values, principles or…

This article presents an analysis of Swedish subject teachers and special educators' discourses on the teaching of students with different needs in order to study their enactment of inclusive education in relation to competing demands. Drawing on notions of policy enactment, policies are here not only understood as regulatory texts, but also as…

Special educators are considered essential in schools, both in the regular system and in the separate special needs system. It is important to understand how special education is envisioned among teachers who choose further study in this field. The aim of this study is to gain more knowledge about what motivates teachers to gain further…

We aimed to explore the experiences of teachers, autistic students and students' parents, before and after professional development intervention for teachers in primary school. The main participants were five autistic students aged 7-11 years in three primary schools (intervention schools), their parents and teachers. Five school contexts were…

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare Norwegian (n = 320) and Swedish (n = 425) special educators' reported practices and beliefs about key aspects of their profession. Data was collected via surveys sent to graduates of special education programmes at four universities who completed their studies between 2001 and 2012. A…

A compelling body of international research demonstrates that a positive, supportive teacher-student relationship is essential for students' development, especially for at-risk students. In this article, the educator's ability to build such relationships is discussed in terms of 'relational competence'. Special educators' relational competence is…

Studies have shown that children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) are less engaged in social interactions with peers. The study attempted to investigate how Swedish preschool teachers in inclusive preschool settings implemented an evidence-based program called Play Time/Social Time; how they interpreted children's interaction; and how their…

The purpose of this study was to shed light on how work-related teacher support in the form of special educational consultation can promote the professional development of teachers working in rural schools located in sparsely populated areas. The phenomenon studied was professional collaboration between class teachers and special educators in the…

Prior research shows that special needs educators (SNEs) have had problems defining their occupational roles and jurisdiction, particularly regarding inclusive education. There are two occupational groups of SNEs in Sweden, namely special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) and special education teachers. In this paper, we use the collective…