Running head: SPECIAL EDUCATORS‟ SOCIAL NETWORKS 1 Special educators‟ social networks: – A multiple case study in a Finnish part-time special education context Jenna Tuomainen 1 , Tuire Palonen 2 , and Kai Hakkarainen 3 1 Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki 2 Centre for Learning Research, University of Turku 3 Department of Education, University of Turku Abstract The purpose of this article is to analyze the networking roles of special education teachers with the methods of social network analysis. This investigation is a multiple case study concerning three special educators in a Finnish part- time special education context. Special educators‟ networking roles were examined using interviews and questionnaires completed by the teachers in the communities investigated. Although the special educators had central positions in the formal teacher communities as knowledge sources and collaborators for their colleagues, they were at peripheries of the informal communities within the schools. The special educators‟ networking roles also involved activating various outside professional relationships that provided expert resources needed in their profession. It was concluded that the special educators may be characterized as relational experts, who, according to our evidence, work at boundary zones between school communities and have hybridized special education-related professional networks. Keywords: professional network, relational expert, social network, special educator in part-time special education Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jenna Tuomainen, P.O. Box 26 (Teollisuuskatu 23-25), Institute of Behavioural Sciences, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: jenna.tuomainen@helsinki.fi. Tel. +358-44-5692632.