Alone in the group room

Abstract

In Sweden, an underexplored educational practice involves pupils being placed outside the classroom to receive individual instruction while remaining formally enrolled in a regular class. Although widely used, this form of provision has received limited research attention. Drawing on a care‐ethical perspective, this study examines how 16 upper primary schoolteachers and special educators describe and reason about such arrangements. The analysis focuses on how the purpose of the instruction is understood and how its implications for pupils' relationships with classmates and teachers are articulated. The findings indicate a contrast between short‐term, knowledge‐oriented forms of instruction and more prolonged forms of separation motivated by social concerns. While the former were generally described as purposeful and limited in scope, the latter were associated with ambivalence and ethical unease. Across participants' accounts, decisions to remove pupils from the classroom were often shaped by efforts to avoid situations perceived as socially difficult. The findings suggest that individual instruction outside the classroom may function not only as a pedagogical support measure but also as a relational risk‐management strategy . While often framed as care, prolonged separation may reproduce social vulnerability by protecting pupils from participation itself.