Vad styr mentorskapet för elever i skolsvårigheter på gymnasiet?

This study focused on supervisors at Upper Secondary School in Sweden and how they expressed what governed their work with students in need. The concept a student in need is defined as a student who could benefit from more support from the supervisor than the rest of the students in the class. In an empirical study I have studied ten teachers, who were also supervisors for students in four different municipalities in Sweden. The study was conducted through a questionnaire on the web during spring 2011. The analysis was interpreted in a frame of references from the sociocultural field especially discursive theories. The study showed that there was a tension between the governing of the schools and the principles on which the supervisors would like to focus in their work with students in need. The discrepancy of most importance was on the level of organization especially the management of the schools which in the supervisors` experience hindered the work with their students. My analysis shows that the supervisors experienced powerlessness associated with the governing of the schools. This powerlessness is linked to the discrepancy between the governing and the work that the supervisors would like to do and the aims they would like to achieve.Validerat; 20110620 (anonymous