In Finland, practices related to refugee education have been developed for decades in the biggest cities, but the smaller municipalities have started to receive refugee students only recently. Thus, in order to develop refugee education, it is important to analyse the existing good practices and the needs of further development. For this article, we interviewed of four experts working in school offices in municipalities with a long tradition of organising refugee education. The data were analysed with a thematic content analysis, and the categories that arose from the data were: 1) linguistically responsive practices in supporting refugee students, 2) practices that support teachers’ pedagogy and wellbeing at work, and 3) the needs to develop refugee education in Finland. The results show that in all four municipalities, school offices have practices acknowledging linguistic diversity and students’ backgrounds, as well as identifying learning challenges and needs for special support. The principles of second language learning and the methods that support learning were also reflected in the interviews. The practices related to supporting teachers' work with refugee students included written guidelines and mentoring given by the school office, and collegial peer support. The interviewees also reflected on the expertise that teachers developed over time when working with the refugee students, and how this expertise supported teachers’ pedagogical practice and wellbeing. The need to develop refugee education included concerns related to insufficient socio-emotional or linguistic support for refugee students, especially regarding the transition from preparatory classes to basic education. Additionally, there was a need to get better resources, guidelines and professional development trainings for teachers, as well as the need to develop school communities to better support the refugee students and respond to their needs. There was also a concern regarding the lack of national guidelines for organising refugee education in Finland, putting refugee students in an unequal position in different municipalities. The results indicate that in the bigger Finnish municipalities, there are well-established practices in organising refugee education that should be spread to other municipalities. However, concerns related to the lack of national guidelines should be taken seriously when further developing refugee education in Finland. This study is also significant outside of Finland: good practices could be implemented and further developed in many countries that are organising education for refugee students in order to support educational equality for refugee students.

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