Arbetet som skolkurator- en tolkningsfråga? En kvalitativ undersökning av skolkuratorns arbete och yrkesroll

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to research how school counselors work and how they interpret and implement the existing guidelines from Skolverket and Socialstyrelsen. The study is also aimed to investigate what circumstances are influential for the school counselors' ability to implement the guidelines. The method of semi-structured interviews was chosen to allow us to investigate how school counselors carry out their work. Seven school counselors working at elementary schools in Malmö were interviewed. All interviews were recorded and then later transcribed to allow for coding and thematization. Michael Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucracy and role theory has been used to analyze the study's results. The study found that the existing guidelines provided little support in the counselors' everyday work, and that the counselors interpreted the guidelines in different ways. The role of the school counselor differed between different schools. Both the school counselor's professional role and what assignments were prioritized depended on the pupils' needs, the school counselor's interests, and how the guidelines were interpreted. The participants expressed wanting to work more with preventing social problems, as well as promoting health and well-being at school, but that they were obligated to prioritize the urgent needs of the pupils.