Regional perspectives on remote teaching in Sweden

Katarina Öjefors Stark, Jörgen From, Education in the North

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In rural parts of Sweden, there is a growing interest in remote teaching, i.e. synchronous teaching using ICT. The Swedish National Agency for Education views remote teaching as a way to meet teacher shortage. However, there is limited research on remote teaching as an educational form. The purpose of this study was to investigate opportunities and challenges with remote teaching from three perspectives: school, region, and research. The method chosen was content analysis of qualitative interviews with school leaders, regional officials and researchers. All informants ment that remote teaching had great opportunities. Common themes were equality, meeting teacher shortages, access to qualified teachers, and increased teaching quality. However, the informants highlighted challenges related to the technological, practical and organizational issues, learning, and legal issues. Limited use by the Education Act was the foremost challenge according to regional officials and researchers, while school leader more often highlighted technology, pedagogy, and organization as challenges. In conclusion, all three perspectives saw remote teaching as a way to ensure pupils in rural areas the right to equal education and teaching quality. Despite challenges introducing a novel form of teaching, there
is a consensus on remote teaching as an integral part of the future school.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7-23
Number of pages17
JournalEducation in the North
Volume27
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Dec 2020

Keywords

  • remote teaching
  • rural schools
  • content analysis
  • school leader's perspectives
  • school development

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Regional perspectives on remote teaching in Sweden'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this