Umeå University's logo

Antologins syfte har varit att ur olika perspektiv bidra med kunskap om aktuella och relevanta forsknings- och utvecklingsarbeten (FoU) kring utbild-ning i rurala skolor i Norge, Sverige och Finland. Genom att presentera dessa forsknings- och utvecklingsarbeten i antologins kapitel vill vi förmedla en mångsidig bild av det rurala utbildningslandskapet, till nytta för lärare, skol-ledare, beslutsfattare och forskare, samt för invånarna i rurala områden. Vi hoppas även att bidragen ska inspirera till nya FoU-arbeten som tar tilvara den potential som finns i rurala utbildningslandskap, inklusiv samverkan med praxisfältet där ett positivt resurstänkande och handlingskraft lyfts fram (jfr. Rappaport, 1987).

Antologins kapitel visar dels på flera viktiga behovsbaserade perspektiv från utbildning i rurala områden, dels synliggör relevant forskning om och med aktörer i rurala områden som hittills har saknats. Att antologins bidrag är skrivna på nordiska språk är ett medvetet val, eftersom det gör texterna mer lättillgängliga även för läsare utanför vetenskapssamfundet. Texterna kommer sannolikt att behandlas på seminarier, konferenser och nätverks-sammankomster som fokuserar på att öka kunskapen om forsknings- och utvecklingsarbete i rural utbildningskontext. I detta avslutande kapitel blickar vi framåt och reflekterar kring antologins bidrag och hur de kan bidra till att främja jämlikhet och likvärdighet i samhället i stort, och särskilt när det gäl-ler utbildning, utvecklingsarbete och forskning i rurala områden. Antologins bidrag relaterar på olika sätt till tre teoretiska kärnbegrepp inom det rurala forskningsfältet: handlingskraft (empowerment), engagemang (engagement) och likvärdighet (equity) (Ledger, 2019). Dessa begrepp kan fungera som ledstjärnor för att stärka handlingsförmåga (agency) hos personer som lever, lär och undervisar i rurala områden. I det följande diskuteras antologins bidrag i relation till dessa nyckelbegrepp.

The purpose of this chapter is to contribute knowledge about how teachers in Swedish rural schools, via a digital network, develop collabora-tions with a focus on professional development. The theoretical perspective is based on cultural historical theory with a focus on professional collabo-rations, which helps to answer the purpose. The concepts of collaboration, learning and professional development are focused. Recorded audio recordings were transcribed and analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA). The analysis results show five meaningful themes: 1) The formation of the rural school network, 2) The network participants’ work with framework factors, 3) Participant-driven needs, 4) New knowledge is demanded and 5) Collegial collaboration. The results show the importance of coordination, similar meeting structure and a democratic conversation model, which provides the conditions for collegial exchanges and collaborations.

Since 2020, a rural school network has been established, comprising teachers from small schools with multi-age classrooms, as well as researchers from Umeå University. One issue that has come up during the network meetings is the difficulty of recruiting trained teachers for rural schools, an issue of utmost relevance for the survival of villages and towns in sparsely populated areas. Currently, student teachers are not given the opportunity to try and experience teaching in rural schools through practical training; the norm is the larger school. A project where students who were to do a four-week practical training were offered to do this in rural schools was initiated and implemented. The students and their supervisors were interviewed in depth in connection with visits to and observation of the teaching. The results highlight the comple-xity of mixed-age teaching in rural schools, and it is also clear that the students have positive experiences of the supervision and opportunity for reflection that the period of practical training has provided. They can all imagine working in rural areas after completing their teacher training.

Denne antologien retter oppmerksomheten mot rurale skoler og deres særegne muligheter og utfordringer i et samtidsperspektiv. Gjennom empiriske studier, teoretiske analyser og utviklingsarbeid belyser bidragsyterne hvordan små skoler kan styrkes som læringsarenaer og samfunnsinstitusjoner. Hovedvekten ligger på norske erfaringer, men perspektiver fra Sverige, Finland, Canada og Shetland gir et internasjonalt sammenligningsgrunnlag og synliggjør utfordringer og løsninger som deles på tvers av landegrenser.

Antologien er organisert rundt tre sentrale temaområder: Lærerutdanning og utdanningspolitikk, sted og identitet, samt nettverk, samarbeid og fjernundervisning. Kapitlene undersøker blant annet hvordan lærerutdanning kan møte behovene i rurale områder, hvordan skolen bidrar til lokal tilhørighet og identitetsutvikling, og hvordan digitale løsninger og profesjonelle nettverk kan styrke kvalitet og kompetanse i små skoler.

Et gjennomgående perspektiv er betydningen av mestringsevne, handlingskraft og lokal forankring. Antologien formidler forskning og erfaringer som er relevante for lærerstudenter, lærere, skoleledere, lærerutdannere og beslutningstakere. Den viser også hvordan rurale utdanningslandskap kan utvikles gjennom kunnskapsdeling, innovasjon og samarbeid.

With advances in communication technologies, remote special educational consultation has become a promising strategy for indirect special education provision aiming to support students with special educational needs as well as their teachers in remote and rural areas. This study explores how special educators in a rural municipality in Sweden offer remote special educational consultation to teachers and how the two teacher categories experience remote special educational consultation. The empirical data of the study consist of special educators’ and teachers’ responses to an online questionnaire (N=11). The analysis revealed themes reflecting experienced challenges as well as opportunities. The challenges relate to lack of professional commitment and consensus, lack of school leaders’ trust, knowledge and support, and barriers associated with distance and technology, while opportunities relate to increased access to special educational competence, increased structure in consultation and increased professional development and collaboration. The results of this study highlight the potential value of remote special educational consultation as an acceptable, cost-effective, and efficient way of increasing access to special educational expertise and providing special educational support to teachers working in rural and underserved schools.

With advances in communication technologies, remote special educational consultation has become a promising strategy for indirect special education provision aiming to support students with special educational needs as well as their teachers in remote and rural areas. This study explores how special educators in a rural municipality in Sweden offer remote special educational consultation to teachers and how the two teacher categories experience remote special educational consultation. The empirical data of the study consist of special educators’ and teachers’ responses to an online questionnaire (N=11). The analysis revealed themes reflecting experienced challenges as well as opportunities. The challenges relate to lack of professional commitment and consensus, lack of school leaders’ trust, knowledge and support, and barriers associated with distance and technology, while opportunities relate to increased access to special educational competence, increased structure in consultation and increased professional development and collaboration. The results of this study highlight the potential value of remote special educational consultation as an acceptable, cost-effective, and efficient way of increasing access to special educational expertise and providing special educational support to teachers working in rural and underserved schools.

Upper secondary vocational education and training (VET) in Sweden has been subject to frequent educational policy reforms which have resulted in reduced numbers of students and student groups comprising many students with special education needs (SEN). These changes can be assumed to have resulted in increasing demands on VET teachers’ work with special needs education (SNE). The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge about VET teachers’ conditions for, and work with, SNE in Swedish VET programmes. An analysis of interviews with 15 teachers from eight VET programmes revealed the following themes: 1) Framework factors in the learning environments affecting  teaching and learning, 2) The schools’ organisation of special educational competence and the VET teachers’ application of special needs education, 3) Communicative teaching for increased knowledge of students’ strengths and needs, 4) Adaptations at individual and group level, 5) Integration of theory and practice, and 6) Reconsidering teaching approaches through follow-ups. The analysis, based on Skrtic’s theory, reveals a dichotomy in the VET teachers’ conditions for, and work with, SNE. In the schools, a bureaucratic approach is applied where overriding goals are attributed high value, while the VET teachers strive for an adhocratic approach where the teaching is based on their students’ needs. Based on Ainscow’s theory, the analysis shows that the VET teachers take an interactive learning environment-related approach, which means that, based on their understanding of the students’ difficulties, they develop adaptations to stimulate their students’ learning and development. 

The aim of this interview study is to increase the knowledge of problematic school attendance by focusing on discourses contributing to this phenomenon in Swedish compulsory school, grade 7-9. Further to identify what helps special educational support teams to challenge such discourses to promote an accessible learning environment for all students. Six special educational teams attended in focus group interviews. The teams provide support to students who, for various reasons, find it difficult to complete their schooling. Rarely the students are supported in the regular learning environment and mostly in a smaller group of students and in another part of the school building. Analytic tools of norm critical pedagogy and Foucauldian discourse analysis were applied to examine how norms, power and social categorizations were constructed, reproduced, and challenged, among the interviewees. Preliminary results indicate that stereotypical ideas about students and their school performance impact on the special educational support team's ability to work for an accessible learning environment and a school that is a safe and meaningful place. Regardless, teaching in an alternative learning environment or not, dominant discourses need to be challenged through a critical approach among the team members. Such discourses are characterized mainly by notions and expectations that the regular learning environment is primarily for successful and study-motivated students and limits the opportunity for those who were once excluded to return.

The purpose of this article is to describe and analyse the state of the art of research on special needs education (SNE) in the context of the Nordic countries’ vocational education and training (VET) systems during the period January 2010 to September 2018.  Twenty studies remained after the search procedure and thematic analysis, 15 of which deal with the practice level and five with the organisation level. No studies were identified as belonging to the policy level. The following themes were found at the practice level: teachers’ work and role, teaching and learning, student transition and student dropout. Themes identified at the organisation level were changes to vocational policy documents and educational practices, and school organisation and its implementation. Finland dominates in terms of number of studies. Furthermore, the review shows that there were few studies in the area of SNE in VET. The results show that further studies are needed to acquire more knowledge about SNE in vocational education.