Background:   Inclusive education is a way to ensure freedom, education and development for all students. Meeting the needs of student with diverse learning needs is challenging and effective cooperation between special education teachers and classroom teachers is important in the inclusion process (Ainscow, 1999; Ainscow et al.,2003; Idol, 2006; Thousand & Villa, 1999).  In Finland special teachers mostly work as remedial teachers and give direct support individually or in small groups to the pupils with special educational needs (Takala, Pirttimaa & Törmänen, 2009). As a consequence of a growing number of special educational pupils the law of the compulsory school in Finland has been modified and the role of the special teacher as a consulting teacher has been discussed (Utbildningstyrelsen, 2011). Earlier research from different countries shows that the practice of the consulting teacher role often is complicated. Special teachers do not have clear mandate to use their expertise by offering the classroom teacher consultation (Crowther, Dyson & Millward, 2001; Malmgren Hansen, 2002, Sahlin, 2005; Ström, 1999). According to Nevin and colleagues (1990) problems occurs when one member in the consultative relationship has an expert role, and they suggest collaborative consultation as a possible model when consultation appears between equal colleagues. The collaborative consultation model is a common consultation model in for example USA (Dettmer, Thurston, Dyck, 2005). The model has so far not attracted much attention in the Nordic countries.

The aim of this paper is to describe how collaborative consultation can be understood and developed as a way to promote inclusive education according to teachers’ descriptions of teacher consultation.

Theoretical framework:  The study combines different theories of learning. Scaffolding theory, constructivism and intersubjective views on learning has been used and combined in the analyze (Bruner, 2006; Wood; Bruner & Ross, 1976; Dysthe, 2001; Peavy, 2000).

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