Matematiklärares erfarenhet av att undervisa elever i behov av särskilt stöd i grundskolans senare år

Sammanfattning: Based in a sociocultural perspective the study aims at illustrating how teachers in mathematics perceive their possibilities of supporting students in mathematical difficulties and how their schools support the teaching practices to those pupils. The methodological approach is phenomenographic and data was collected in half structured interviews with ten professionals teaching mathematics to Swedish 13-16-year-old students from 10 different schools. The results show that, due to the heterogeneity in students’ achievements, teachers perceive the time a limiting factor to individualising and meeting the needs of every student. The findings also indicate that the designs of the schools’ supportive structures are governed by traditions and an individualistic perspective. Thus, ability grouping and supportive measures outside the classroom of ordinary teaching are common. However, the picture is dual. The interviewed teachers express a wish for inclusive teaching and teacher collaboration, promoting a common responsibility for a complex teaching situation. Yet, organisational obstacles and the schools’ scarce resources inhibit inclusion. Further, findings suggest that both the extent and forms of support provided to the mathematics teachers differ, ranging from almost non-existent to well-developed forms of collaborations in mathematics teams, co-teaching and supervision of special educators or head teachers in mathematics. Further training was the support teachers consistently found most important and demanded the most.