Skolkuratorer - en kvalitativ intervjustudie om skolkuratorers förståelse och arbete med hemmasittande elever

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to explore and analyze school counselors' understanding of the phenomenon of hemmasittare and their work with these students. To accomplish this study we had a qualitative approach and conducted six semistructured interviews with school counselors who worked in Swedish compulsory schools. One of the participants was found by a snowball selection and the rest of them were by a goal-oriented selection. The theories that were implemented in the theoretical base of this thesis were street-level bureaucracy and system theories. The results of the study showed that the guidelines for school counselors are severely vague and they cause insecurity within the counselor and in the work with hemmasittare. The guidelines also caused friction between the different professions in the Swedish compulsory schools. Furthermore, the thesis highlighted the problematic resource constraints within the school and how they increase the risk for the pupils to develop permanent school absenteeism. The generous discretion of school counselors was found to be personally bound and it was shaped by the school counselors’ interpretations of the professional guidelines. Within the school counselors’ discretion and work the counselor incorporates a helicopter perspective where they merge the individual aspects of the phenomena and the structural aspects for a greater understanding.