“Everyone has their hands full” : A qualitative study of school counselors and special educators experience of working with students with school attendance problems and mental health issues

Barn som mår psykiskt dåligt och inte går till skolan uppmärksammas allt oftare i media. Både svensk och internationell forskning pekar på att skolfrånvaron ökar världen över. Här i Sverige riktats kritik mot skolornas hantering av elever med problematisk frånvaro och syftet med denna studie var att undersöka specialpedagoger och kuratorers upplevelse av arbetet med målgruppen. Av intresse var vilka faktorer de upplever underlättar respektive försvårar arbete med målgruppen samt deras upplevelse av både interprofessionell samverkan (inom elevhälsan samt mellan elevhälsa och lärare) samt den intersektoriella samverkan (med socialtjänsten och BUP). Studien hade en kvalitativ ansats och genomfördes via sju semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med tre specialpedagoger och fyra kuratorer från sju olika högstadieskolor spridda över landet och med varierande yrkeserfarenhet. Studiens resultat visar att kuratorer och specialpedagoger upplever en hög grad av frustration kopplat till arbete med målgruppen. Deltagarna kände sig trygga med sina arbetsmetoder men hade sällan möjlighet att arbeta fullt ut i enlighet med dessa på grund av tids- och resursbrist. Den interprofessionella samverkan inom elevhälsan beskrevs som välfungerande men med ökande svårigheter kopplade till samverkan med lärare. Den intersektoriell samverkan med socialtjänsten och BUP beskrevs fungera dåligt vilket resulterade i tidskrävande arbete utanför det egna yrkesspecifika handlingsutrymmet. Deltagarna uttryckte en stark känsla av ansvar gentemot sina elever samt en frustration utifrån upplevelsen att socialtjänsten och BUP lättvindigt avslutade ärenden vilket medförde betydande hinder för återintegrering av eleverna i skolan. Media coverage of children with school attendance problems and mental health issues is increasing worldwide. Within a Swedish context, schools are being critiqued for poor handling of these cases. The aim of this thesis was to investigate how school counselors and special pedagogues perceive their work with the respective school’s 7th to 9th grade students. Which obstacles and opportunities do they perceive connected to the methods and strategies they employ in working with these students? How do they feel about the interprofessional collaboration within the school mental health team and in relation to the teachers and how do they perceive the collaboration with the local social services agencies and child psychiatric services? The study was based within a qualitative research tradition and seven qualitative interviews with three special pedagogues and four school counselors were performed. The participants came from seven different schools from around Sweden and had varying degrees of experience working in schools. The results show that both school counselors and special pedagogues have a high degree of frustration connected to their work with these students. They felt comfortable how they should be working within the bounds of their respective roles but described how limited resources connected to time and staffing prevented them from working in accordance with these methods. A major area of frustration was connected to poor collaboration with teachers as well as with the local social services agencies and child psychiatric services. The failed collaboration resulted in counselors and special pedagogues working outside the framework of their roles and they described a strong sense of responsibility for the students they worked with. They also described a sense of frustration connected to collaborative partners within the local social services agencies and the child psychiatric services failing to provide adequate support in the cases. This despite the students and families being in need of support to start the process of reintegration into the school environment.