Regional perspectives on remote teaching in Sweden

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2_EITN_2020_02_04_Ojefors-Stark.pdf

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.

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Keywords

Remote teaching; Rural schools; Content analysis; School leaders perspectives; School development

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