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This study seeks to describe and analyse teachers’ views on the resources available for supporting students with special educational needs in rural Nordic schools. Interviews were conducted with ten teachers from seven rural schools in Sweden, Norway and Finland. The interview data were analysed and the following categories identified: relationship, collaboration, distance and concerns. Relationship and collaboration are enabling conditions for support while distance and concern are constraining conditions. The teachers seem to possess an inner force which helps them to find pedagogical models for their students. External concerns, lack of funding and concern of school closure are ever-present.

There are most likely considerable differences between running schools in rural areas and in big cities. Research has not paid attention to these differences and therefore, there is a lack of knowledge about running schools in rural areas in Sweden. The purpose of this study has been to describe and analyse how principal in schools in rural areas organize their activities, with a focus on special education. The study includes answers from 45 principals in a web survey. These principals represented the four northernmost counties of Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Västernorrland and Jämtland in Sweden. In this study, a school in a rural area is defined as a school of 55 students at the most. The principals represent 53 schools in rural areas, with some principals working in more than one school in these areas. The results show that more than half of the principals govern their schools by distance and seem to be very familiar with the steering documents regarding special education. The results also show that more than half of the principals considered that students’ needs for special support depend mainly on individual student-related factors rather than factors related to the learning environment. However, more than half of the principals emphasized the relevance of the learning environment for the students’ development of knowledge and the importance of flexible ways of working. Overall, the results show how complex the situation of conditions and requirements is for the everyday life for the principals as they strive for equivalent schools.

The article attempts to shed light on how the expertise of special educators can be utilized in classroom teachers' professional development at rural schools with a diverse student body. The study focused on the educational consultations that took place between the two types of professionals, namely the special educators and the classroom teachers, at three rural schools in three communities in northern Sweden. The special educators did not work at the schools. Rather, they worked at Community centers and ran the consultation with the aid of ICT or when they visited the schools. The multiple-case study describes and analyzes the a) context for consultation, b) how consultation is used to support the teachers, and c) the consultation strategies. The data collection methods were observations, interviews, and questionnaires. After the interviews were transcribed, the data were analyzed by thematic content analysis. The results show that the consultations were based on students’ needs, but the consultations focused on the learning environment more than on individual shortcomings. The two professionals collaborated and shared their professional expertise across professional boundaries. This boundary-crossing professional collaboration seems to deepen the consultation between the two professionals and enable them to work together to create a learning environment that supports all pupils.

The article is focused on special needs education in schools owned by independent school authorities in sparsely populated areas. The ten schools investigated are situated in seven municipalities in the four northernmost counties in Sweden. The aim is to investigate the solutions for the special needs education in these schools. The empirical data is constituted by a) the schools background gathered through a web inquiry, and b) the answers generated through a series of open questions that the same informants answered via e-mail. One informant per school has been selected for the study. The focus on special needs education is grounded in a relational view that is visualised when the informants, on one hand, described the pupils’ different needs and, on the other, on the importance of the entire learning environment for the pupil’s learning and development. The informants report the use of various pedagogical teaching methods, the flexible organisation of teaching, and the use of different tools for the purpose of reaching all pupils and supporting them in reaching set learning goals. Moreover, the headmasters in nine out of ten schools are both headmasters and active teachers themselves, which is seen as a sign for the quality of education in these schools.