Skolkuratorns betydande roll i grundskoleverksamheten : En intervjustudie om kuratorers uppfattningar kring arbetet, yrkesrollen och positionen i skolverksamheten

Sammanfattning: There is an understanding that the guidelines for school counselors in Swedish elementary schools lack the preciseness in what the school counselors should do to design and perform their work. Previous research shows that school counselors find it difficult to both establish their role but also to find their position in the school organization. Therefore, this interview study aims to present the perception of six school counselors in Sweden and discover how they feel about their work practice in elementary schools. We found that the main theme in the study was that the work was mainly affected by the management from the school board. Another surprising theme showed that the interviewees agreed that a better work description might help the counselor in general but wasn’t sure that it would help them in their current workplace. They asserted that a good relationship and cooperation with the school board and co-workers were much more important than a more detailed work description. Furthermore, the study also aims to compare their descriptions of the practical work that they perform, to the general guidelines for the work of school counselors. We found that their work in general was according to what is expected for the guidelines, but that in which way the work tasks were performed could differ from one another. Lastly, the study also contains the interviewees perceptions of their position in the school organization and which factors that simplifies or aggravates their practical work. The majority thought that they had established a clear role and position for themselves. However they agreed that many of the coworkers didn’t have the same perspective and understanding as themselves. Some of the interviewees also thought that the quantity of students they were dealing with, also made a difference on the quality of their work.