This article concerns special education for pupils in forms 1-4, and to what extent pupils, parents and teachers have a coherent understanding of the conditions for learning. To study coherence we focused on three key areas for learning: "expectations," "relationships" and "cooperation." The findings reveal a considerable disparity in how the various actors interpret the pupils' situation. Divergent perceptions weaken the preconditions necessary to create a coherent teaching situation, which represent a challenge to the pupils' learning. It seemed that creating coherence at the system level or at the individual level was not valued. The various actors spoke of the same challenges, but only to a small degree were they aware of each other's understanding, expectations and experiences of the same areas.