Special Educators’ and Special Educator Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Work Tasks and Opportunities to Work Supportively and Preventively in a Swedish Municipality

The opportunity to receive early support would be beneficial, especially for students with special educational needs. Swedish schools are criticized in evaluations for not providing early support to children with special educational needs. Special educators have in their profession a pronounced key role in schools regarding support initiatives and they should identify needs and contribute to students receiving adequate support. The study aims to investigate special educators’ work tasks and opportunities to work supportively and preventively. The participants are 157 professionals responsible for providing special support in a local authority in Sweden, who responded to a web questionnaire in 2022. Their answers were analyzed to identify challenges that hinder inclusive early support provisions in this educational context.