Few longitudinal, mixed methods studies focusing on teachers’ views of inclusive teaching have been conducted in primary schools. This article draws attention to a Swedish in-service (K-5) school improvement research project, aiming to contribute to a school’s developmenttoward improved inclusive education, where teachers’ experiences were analysed, using mixed methods, at the beginning and at the end of the project. Data consisted of items extracted from the TALIS 2013 survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The observed change between the first- and second-year surveys and interviews emphasised a connection between teachers’ confidence, self-efficiency, collaborative professional development, and successful school development. What signified the development of inclusive education was moving away from categorising the needs of individuals with learning disabilities towards focusing on activeteaching, mutual engagement, and content knowledge for all students

This is a systematic literature review aiming to systematically synthesize research of teachers’ collaborative professional development (CPD) for inclusive education. In total, 21 articles out of 55 from three data-based met the inclusion criteria. Cohen’s kappa was used to measure the agreement, found that the agreement between the raters was 0.72; substantial agreement. The results show that the definition of inclusive education differs, from the right to school attendance to full inclusion by participating in the same classes as other peers in the same age groups and environment. By that, models for collaborative professional development also vary. Most studies were small-scale projects without controls or data showing evidence for enhanced teacher or student outcomes or satisfaction. Accordingly, we could not obtain results showing powerful CPD models. We instead defined research gaps in systematic and evidence-based studies of collaborative professional development models for inclusive education. However, participation in professional development trainings resulted in teachers having more positive attitudes towards inclusive education. Results were also found that show that teachers who were most positive about inclusion also had the highest risks of burnout. Finally, results of the CPDs’ effect on students’ knowledge development in inclusive education was limited.

Few research studies have been conducted in a primary school in early mathematical education about the teaching of geometry. This research aims to contribute with knowledge of how teachers' awareness and understanding of necessary conditions to enhance students' abilities to discern two- and three-dimensional shapes develop. In this research, qualitative methods were used to analyse data from a lesson study in grade 4 in the subject of mathematics. Data were primarily collected through audio-recorded conversations with teachers before and after the lesson, and the results of students' pre- and post-test. The results of this research showed increased awareness of using collaboration opportunities to apply professional classroom instructions and activities to enhance students' knowledge of two- and three-dimensional shapes. This research elucidates how the practice-based professional development approach emphasised the teachers' teaching targets for understanding students' content knowledge of geometric shapes. Additionally, the result highlighted teachers' awareness and understanding of the challenges students face in learning about three-dimensional shapes from two-dimensional representations. Future research should develop a more iterative and revised research lesson design to develop more powerful content knowledge and classroom activity in this topic area.

Purpose This study determines which aspects of the intended object of learning (planned by teachers during the first phase of a learning study) is made discernible from a learners' perspective. In a learning study, the intended, enacted, and lived object of learning are considered. This study focuses on the learning material used by teachers while designing a lesson. Design/methodology/approach In many learning studies, variation theory is used to design lessons, which predicts difficulties in and possibilities for student learning. The data consisted of a lesson part - instruction through a video-recorded dance choreography - employed to enhance primary school (in a Swedish context, grade 4) students' dancing skills in the subject of Physical Education and Health. The choreography comprised five different sequences, where a variation occurred when the subsequent (new) sequence was applied to the previous movement pattern. The sequences acted as building blocks, where the students' transitions from one movement pattern to another were logical and distinguishable. Findings The results of this study show in what way an analysis of learning material, based on variation theory, can help teachers take into account the level of complexity of the object of learning. The results also identify which parts of a lesson design can be predicted to present a higher degree of challenge and by that more difficult to grasp, especially for students with different educational needs. Originality/value Lessons may be designed based on theoretical assumptions to ensure effective classroom learning and provide guidance to teachers based on student needs.