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…

Background: There are two occupational groups in Sweden that are expected to have significant impact on educational work related to children in need of special support. These two groups are special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) and special education teachers. In this paper, we use the collective name "special educators" to…

This article describes various views of special teacher students towards inclusion. In order to examine these, we analysed a series of statements made by students in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The specific aims were to see how these views can be seen as supportive or challenging for inclusion in schools. A questionnaire with one closed question…

This paper examines trends in special education teacher education in Sweden from 1921 to 1981. Changes such as the institution of a one-year special education teacher training course are discussed, with emphasis on changes in the relationship of special education to the whole school system. Trends and goals since 1981 are also briefly noted.…