Remote education is currently available in the subjects of mother tongue, modern languages, Sami and sign languages for students in elementary and upper secondary school. According to the Swedish National Agency for Education, remote education is defined as real time and interactive teaching by using information and communication technology (ICT). The students are in schools with a supervisor. The teacher or remote teacher is not in the same location as the students. Remote education is not the same as distance learning, where the students themselves decide when and where they do their schoolwork. In Sweden, students in elementary and secondary school have the right to receive mother tongue education in case the following conditions are met: (a) one of the student's guardians has a mother tongue other than Swedish, (b) the language is used in everyday communication at home and (c) the student has basic knowledge of that language. Students who are not be able to keep up with education in Swedish language have the right to receive 'study guidance in mother tongue' in one or more subjects. The school principal decides if students need study guidance in mother tongue. However, there are shortages in both mother tongue teachers and study guidance counsellor in several different languages. Thus, not all students who applied for mother tongue teaching were provided with it. Starting from August 1, 2016, school principals are allowed to establish contracts among each other to provide and make use of tuition in mother tongue and study guidance in mother tongue as a service. As a consequence of changed legislation, all 13 municipalities in Jonkoping county decided to cooperate in a unique effort to offer students better access to competent teachers in their mother tongue. Thus, it led to the establishment of this remote education project. A coordinator was employed to organize the operation. The coordinator has mapped the demand for languages in the county and trained mother tongue teachers in remote education. The aim of the project is to coordinate all municipalities in Jonkoping county in order to increase the opportunity for students to get their mother tongue teaching or/and study guidance in mother tongue. The ongoing process shows that the remote education has decreased that gap between demand and supply. The students have better chance to study their mother tongue and to receive study guidance in mother tongue, especially in less common languages. Currently, there are ten languages are now taught remotely by mother tongue teachers in Jonkoping county.
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