In Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries children are offered a curricular based combination of care and teaching before and after compulsory school hours. These leisure time centers, so-called fritidshem, are offered to children aged between 6 and 12 whose parents’ study or work, as well as to children that require special development support. The aim of this systematic literature review was to investigate how similar activities are described in international research. The focus was on children aged 6-12 who have been assessed to need special support. The initial step in this literature survey was the reading of 108 abstracts from academic articles. The second step included 21 articles that were read in their entirety. Fourteen of them met the sampling criteria and were included in the result section. The Nordic model combines care and curricular activities before and after compulsory school hours. In other countries activities taking place after school hours are separated into activities meeting children’s need of care and activities supplementing school. Another result that became clear in this research is the need of further studies to map pre- and after-school activities where children are simultaneously offered development support and care, with special focus on children in need of extra support.

As the Swedish governing documents state that the School-age educare should supplement the education in the compulsory school, the support for pupils with special needs could be expected to continue after school at the School-age educare. The purpose of this study is to elucidate how special education teachers in school and teachers at the School-age educare collaborate in the work with pupils in need of special support. A total of 30 teachers participated. The results were analyzed using Bronfenbrenner's ecological model and show that collaboration exists to a limited extent when teaching children with special needs. It is evident in the results that a clearer focus on inclusion is 8desirable and that a collaboration between professions will enable the school-age educare to be a complement to school.

Purpose Lesson Study is a model for advancing knowledge about how teachers can enhance teaching through collaboration in schools. This study aims to focus on two learning situations for students in Grades 1-3: elementary school (the first years of school) and school-age educare (activities for students before and after school while their parents are working or studying). The case study aims to describe how teachers use Lesson Study to enhance students' mathematical learning in the two learning situations. The objectives were to describe teachers' perceptions of Lesson Study activities and collaboration and students' knowledge before and after lessons. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected as a narrative case study using audio-recorded conversations between researchers and teachers in the different learning contexts. A questionnaire comprising five open-ended questions was used to map students' knowledge of the subject. Findings Teachers found it advantageous to cooperate with each other across the different learning situations. Mapping students' knowledge before and after a teaching session helped them understand how to create a teaching situation that benefits their students. They saw the value of continued collaboration and called for implementation of the Lesson Study method throughout the school. Research limitations/implications An important limitation of this case study is that it was conducted in a very specific context, and the findings cannot, therefore, be generalized to other situations. However, there is a need for similar case studies to be conducted in different contexts, both in Sweden and in other countries, to pay attention to ways in which elementary schools and school-age educare can develop supplementary teaching situations. Originality/value The originality of this case lies in planning and reporting a Lesson Study in two different learning situations in the same school, and the conclusion that educators identify and develop collaborative links in different subjects.