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According to the Swedish Education Act, schools in Sweden must provide comprehensive student health services to foster an inclusive and conducive learning environment, promoting students’ well-being and knowledge development. As part of a multi-professional team, school counsellors are essential in achieving these goals. However, national guidance lacks details on the role of school counsellors in health promotion, prevention and remedial efforts. This study addresses this knowledge gap by examining aspects of school counsellors’ professional work using theories of professions. Open-ended answers in a survey distributed to school counsellors in Sweden were analysed through content analysis. Findings show that remedial work primarily focuses on individual students’ social issues through conversation-based interventions. Preventive work targets groups and the broader school environment, often involving tasks like policy development. Health promotion work stands out with its educational component, where school counsellors are involved in Life Competence Education, often in collaboration with other school professionals.

This article presents findings from a survey conducted on all school counsellors in Sweden. The focus of the article is on Swedish school counsellors’ demographics, professional practice, educational background, working life history and professional autonomy. The survey was web-based and contained 91 questions of both quantitative and qualitative nature. The results show that Swedish school counsellors are predominantly experienced female social workers with academic education in social work and several years’ experience of social work in areas other than school. Employment as a school counsellor is not an entry-level job. The professional practice of Swedish school counsellors predominately focus on remedial work with individual students. Their professional practice focus to a lesser extent on preventive and health promoting work despite the prominent position that preventive and health promoting work are given in the Swedish school act and in the national guidelines. The professional focus of Swedish school counsellors raises questions whether the emphasis on individual remedial work is to be interpreted as a lack of organizational awareness and resources, or if it is an expression of a professional ‘heritage’ from school counsellors prior experience of professional social work within other welfare areas were remedial work are custom. We argue that the focus on remedial work makes it valid to describe the character of Swedish school counsellors’ professional practice as a reflection of Swedish social services in general.

Purpose: This study aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of adolescent’s experiences of individual school social work counselling in Swedish elementary schools. Design/methodology/approach: The study encompasses interviews with 16 adolescents about their experiences of individual counselling with school social workers (SSWs). The data was analysed using conventional content analysis. Findings: The main result was the adolescents’ desire “to navigate to shore” to speak freely about their whole lives with a professional SSW and find a “ safe haven,” […] where a trusting professional cared for and comforted them in counselling. The counselling contact contributed to increased knowledge about oneself. The results reveal the importance of the SSWs paying attention and listening to the adolescents’ narratives. The creation of a coherent life narrative enables to finally end counselling and “Cast off.” Originality/value: The results highlight the importance of Swedish SSWs focusing on individual counselling sessions with adolescents to provide a setting for growth.

This thesis fills part of the existing knowledge gap regarding school social workers (SSW) individual counselling practice. The overall aim is to investigate the individual SSW counselling in Swedish elementary schools, as part of the pupil health team (PHT). This will be achieved by exploring the following three basic research questions: What characterizes school social work regarding structure, process and interventions in individual counselling sessions held by SSWs with children? How do SSWs describe the difficulties and opportunities in school social work, interventions and performance, and collaboration with other actors in pupil health teams? What characterises SSWs’ individual counselling according to the adolescents’ experiences and expressed needs This thesis consisted of four research studies. The first one concentrated on SSWs personal experiences of counselling children, in which focus group studies were conducted with 22 SSWs (four groups). In the second study, the SSWs described their experiences of being a part of a multi-disciplinary team, the PHT, during the focus group interviews. These two studies were analysed by content analysis. The third study consisted of a quantitative protocol study regarding child characteristics, counselling strategies and interventions analysed by descriptive statistics. The purpose on the fourth study was to increase knowledge about the individual counselling from the adolescents’ perspective. Individual interviews were conducted and analysed through content analysis. This thesis highlighted the necessity for children to express themselves, in regards to their life situation, concerns and problems. SSWs could be one prominent actor in the children’s lives by providing individual counselling sessions. SSWs are described as the PHT psychosocial expert with specialised knowledge regarding the impact of negative psychosocial factors on children.In addition, this thesis concluded that available regulations and guidelines me, Denna avhandling fyller en del av den kunskapslucka som finns gällande skolkuratorers individuella samtalspraktik. Det övergripande syftet är att undersöka den individuella samtals praktik som skolkurator bedriver i den svenska kommunala grundskolan, inom ramen för skolans elevhälsoarbete. Tre grundläggande forskningsfrågor formulerades enligt följande: Vad kännetecknar det skolsociala arbetet med avseende på struktur, process och interventioner i skolkuratorns individuella samtal med barn? Hur beskriver skolkuratorer sina erfarenheter av hjälpande och försvårande aspekter i skolsocialt arbete, interventioner och utförande samt samverkan med andra aktörer i elevhälsoteamet? Vad kännetecknar skolkuratorns individuella samtal utifrån ungdomarnas erfarenheter och uttryckta behov? Avhandlingen består av fyra delstudier vilka publicerats i vetenskapliga artiklar. Den ena studien koncentrerar sig på skolkuratorernas egna erfarenheter av individuella samtal med barn, baserad på fokusgruppsintervjuer som genomfördes med 22 skolkuratorer (fördelade på fyra fokusgrupper). I den andra studien beskrev samma grupp av skolkuratorer sina erfarenheter av att vara en del av ett multiprofessionellt team, elevhälsoteamet (EHT) under fokusgruppsintervjuerna. Dessa två studier analyserades genom innehållsanalys. Den tredje studien i avhandlingen består av en kvantitativ protokollstudie avseende barns karakteristika, samtalsstrategier och interventioner. Skolkuratorer (20 stycken) fyllde i ett protokoll efter avslutat samtal med ett barn. Totalt samlades 193 protokoll in baserade på samma antal unika barn och analyserades med deskriptiv statistik. Den fjärde studiens syfte var att fördjupa kunskapen om de individuella skolkurativa samtalen ur ungdomarnas perspektiv. Individuella intervjuer med ungdomar (15 år) genomfördes och analyserades sedan genom innehållsanalys. Avhandlingen belyser nödvändigheten för barn att uttrycka sig själva, när det gäller sin livssituation, sin oro och sina p, Forskningsfinansiär: Åre kommun

The overall aim of the present study is to describe and explore the characteristics and content of school social worker’s (SSWs) individual counselling with children as these are imprinted in session protocols collected at Swedish elementary schools. Specific focus is placed on the character of the children’s concerns, the content of the SSW’s helping strategies, and challenges related to the alliance between the SSW and the children as experienced by the SSW. The study was based on data from a survey protocol of 20 SSW’s daily practice regarding their experiences in counselling children and adolescents. The data consisted of 193 protocols from the same number of unique individual sessions. Data were analysed through quantitative descriptive statistics. The data also contained a large proportion of open-ended textual answers, which were analysed through a qualitative summative content analysis. The counselling strategies were primarily divided into three parts, namely coaching, processing, and assessing. The most common practice elements used included elements of empowerment, alliance and relationship, and hope and trust. In counselling children, SSWs identified a broad range of problems in children’s overall lives. Many children suffered from their home situations, which also impinged upon the SSWs, who were affected by the children’s life narrative. Our results can help inform SSW policy and practices as SSWs assist vulnerable children through individual counselling that corresponds to their help-seeking behaviour and by offering a space for alliances and relationships.

School social workers can be seen as a professional group operating on the margin of an educational logic that dominates schools as institutions. This conditions what tasks they are assigned and what aspects of social work knowledge they will find relevant. On the other hand, the role as a sole professional and relative outsider in the organization provides a potential for school social workers to transcend established theories of social work practice. This article aims to investigate how social work theory is applied in school social work. Twelve semi-structured interviews with school social workers were analysed in terms of how they relate to four knowledge approaches derived from the literature: task-centred, systems theory, strengths and anti-oppressive. Contrary to claims within the sociology of professions that social work practice is formed largely by organizational context rather than a discipline-specific knowledge base, the interviewees seemed to lean on a robust professional foundation within social work theory. Interviewees strongly emphasised their role as working for the individual pupil and positioned themselves as somewhat in opposition to a somewhat oppressive school environment., Skolkuratorer är en professionell grupp som har en perifer position i förhållande till skolan, som domineras av en pedagogisk logik. Detta påverkar vilka specifika arbetsuppgifter och aspekter av socialt arbete som blir relevanta för den skolkurativa praktiken. Samtidigt erbjuds denna grupp av socialarbetare genom sin perifera roll möjligheter att överskrida och utveckla etablerade former och teorier för vad som utgör det sociala arbetets praktik. Syftet med artikeln är att undersöka hur teorier i socialt arbete tillämpas i den skolkurativa praktiken. Tolv semistrukturerade intervjuer med skolkuratorer analyserades med utgångspunkt i fyra centrala perspektiv inom socialt arbete: uppgiftscentrerat, systemteoretiskt, empowerment och antiförtryckande. I motsats till vad som framförts i professionssociologiska studier, där det hävdas att det sociala arbetets praktik formas av den organisatoriska kontexten snarare än av en disciplinspecifik kunskapsbas, föreföll intervjupersonerna i sin praktik primärt förhålla sig till en robust kunskapsbas hämtad från teoribildning i socialt arbete. Intervjupersonerna framhöll vidare hur deras arbete präglades av ett barnperspektiv, vilket gjorde att de i viss utsträckning positionerade sig i opposition till en skola som delvis uppfattades som förtryckande. Dock var de inte benägna att kritiskt reflektera över sin egen potentiella roll i denna förtryckande kontext., Title in swedish: Skolkuratorers användande av teorier i socialt arbete

This article describes how school social workers and teachers perceive their cooperation with each other with regard to pupils’ well-being in Swedish schools. A total of 23 qualitative interviews were conducted with a strategic sample of teachers and school social workers. The analysis of the interview data was based on Andrew Abbott’s theory of the system of professions, and the cooperation and boundary work of the two professional groups are discussed in terms of jurisdictional conflicts and “cultural machinery”. The analysis shows that on a general level both school social workers and teachers seem to agree about the need for school social work, but tensions and diverging views were uncovered when investigating the cultural machinery in their daily work. This study shows how both of these professional groups protect the boundaries of their own jurisdictions, but also how these boundaries are relaxed when social workers and teachers jointly try to solve everyday problems.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the professional role of school social workers in Sweden from the perspective of profession theory, with particular focus on legitimacy, jurisdiction and discretion. The aim has been divided into four research questions, which are examined in four separate studies: How has the school social work profession emerged and developed? How do school social workers experience boundaries to their professional discretion? How are theories of social work practice applied in school social work? How do school social workers and teachers perceive their cooperation with regard to the wellbeing of pupils? The general area of interest concerns professionals operating in organizations where they are the sole representatives of their profession. In addition, these professionals typically have a peripheral position in relation to the core professions in the organization. The four different studies build on empirical material from qualitative interviews with school social workers and teachers, and also from policy and regulatory documents. The theoretical framework guiding the analysis draws on theories from the sociology of professions (Abbott, 1988) and about human service organizations (Hasenfeld, 1983, 2010). A key finding is that school social worker has a specific technology based on well-established practice theories in social work, where a systems approach appears as the most prominent. Although, it was possible to discern such practice theories from the interviews, the school social workers did not explicitly give reference to them and generally struggled to describe their practice in a professional language. A second key finding result is the lack of clarity with regards to the school social worker’s role. This is evidenced in regulatory documents, as well as among social workers themselves and teachers. In theory, this provides school social workers with a high degree of discretion. However, due to legitimacy problems they feel limited in