Many pupils with disabilities receive schooling in segregated contexts, such as special classes or special schools. Furthermore, the percentage of pupils educated in segregated settings has increased in many European countries. Studies suggest that there is high commitment to the general ideology of inclusive education among teachers in ‘regular’ education in many countries. This survey study investigates the views of teachers in segregated types of school about education. A questionnaire was sent out, in 2016, to all Swedish teachers (N = 2871, response rate 57.7%) working full time in special classes for pupils with intellectual disability (ID). On a general level results show that there is a strong commitment to preserving a segregated school setting for pupils with ID, a limited desire to cooperate with colleagues from ‘regular schools’ and a view that schooling and teaching are not quite compatible with the idea of inclusive education. The results highlight the importance of investigating processes of resistance within segregated schools to the development of inclusive schools and education systems. We argue that, while research and debate about inclusive education are important, both are insufficient without analyses of existing types of segregated schooling.

The intersection of arts education and special education as a field has been described as lacking in unity, partly because the practices of its different stakeholders are embedded in either special education or arts education. This paper investigates how principals prioritise teachers’ qualifications when organising arts education in compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities (CSID) in Sweden, what they perceive the value of arts education in CSID to be and how they organise arts education in relation to cooperation between pupils from CSID and compulsory regular school (CRS). These questions were investigated using a questionnaire, which was answered by 124 principals. The results show that around three times as many principals prioritised specialised arts knowledge over competence in special education. However, the degree to which this occurred varied across arts subjects. A majority of the principals valued arts education for the opportunities it offers pupils to develop generic abilities, such as communication skills, creativity, and imagination. Cooperation between CSID and CRS for arts education appeared to depend on how school leadership was organised. The article concludes with suggestions on how the organisation of arts education could be improved in relation to the two areas of expertise and the idea of inclusion.

This study explores the strategies teachers utilise to create inclusive learning environments. The research involved 36 primary and secondary school teachers who participated in continuing professional development to promote inclusivity in their classrooms. In the analysis of data arising from focus group interviews, four dimensions of inclusive teaching strategies were utilised: framing, relational, didactic and organisational dimensions. The teachers emphasised the importance of relations with the students and of creating a safe and accepting classroom climate. They also highlighted the need for teaching competencies that allow for lesson planning based on students’ diverse learning abilities, with differentiation, individualisation and variety being key themes. Within the framing dimension, the importance of structure and predictability in teaching was noted. In the organisational dimension, staffing, including co-teaching, emerged as a potential key factor in achieving inclusive learning environments. The study contributes valuable insights into planning and conducting education to realise an inclusive learning environment.

Drawing on research in progress in the Partispace project we make a case for the recognition of the importance of non-formal spaces in response to young refugees across three different national contexts: Frankfurt in Germany; Gothenburg in Sweden; and Manchester in the UK. It is argued that recognition of local regulation and national controls of immigration which support climates of hostility makes it important to recognise and affirm the significance of non-formal spaces and ‘small spaces close to home’ which are often developed in the ‘third space’ of civil society and arise from the impulses driven by the solidarity of volunteers. In these contexts it is important that practices of hospitality can develop which symbolically reconstitute refugees as hosts and subjects of a democratic conversation, without which there is no possible administrative solution to the refugee crisis. It is essential that educational spaces such as schools, colleges and universities forge strong bonds with such emergent spaces.

Education in segregated settings for pupils with intellectual disability (ID) has often been portrayed as a unified form of schooling. There is a risk of providing a simplified picture of these settings and of what pupils with ID need to learn. This is generally stipulated in policy documents, leaving room for staff in school to interpret curricula and form learning environments. The aim of this study is to explore how four different learning environments are constructed in segregated settings where pupils with ID are educated in Sweden. The study was conducted as a multiple case study, using observations and interviews with teachers and pupils in four special classes for pupils with ID (SCIDs). Drawing on curriculum theory, the four learning environments, in the results named as Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta class, respectively, appeared to be characterized by different ideas of schooling, labelled as knowledge‐mediating, socializing, functional life skills and caring as well as teacher‐centred classrooms. The study contributes to a deepened understanding of the complexity of education for pupils with ID in segregated settings.

The purpose of this study is to produce new insights of ethical issues in special needs educators' (SNEs) consultation with teachers in Swedish schools, by using the theoretical lens of Løgstrup's (1997) theory the Ethical Demand. The research questions concern (1) how the SNEs describe the content of their consultation and (2) how the SNEs describe how they deal with resistance to consultation. Semi‐structured interviews with eight SNEs were analysed by using the theory of The Ethical Demand by Løgstrup. Main results are that consultation is viewed as widening the thinking of the teachers and resistance is dealt with by SNEs avoiding undesired consultation. Resistance to consultation is regarded as a way for teachers to maintain their integrity when being forced to consultation. The study reveals that ethical issues are deeply integrated in consultation and the use of the theory of the Ethical Demand sheds new light on the ethical‐philosophical grounds in SNEs' consultation practice.