Skolkuratorers handlingsutrymme i en pedagogisk kontext : En kvalitativ studie

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study has been to highlight how school social workers experience their discretion, and furthermore how they feel about working in a context mainly dedicated to teachers. The study is executed with a qualitative research method where ten interviews with school social workers, in eight schools in the area of Stockholm have been conducted. The theoretical framework used to analyze the results was discretion, street-level bureaucracy and human service organizations.The main findings of this study imply that the most important ambition of the social work that was conducted in the schools was to help the students reach their knowledge goals. The assignment is, however, not clearly defined, which has lead to school social workers defining the mission and goals themselves. They all have wide discretion and great possibilities to decide how to execute their work, but how they use the freedom that was given seems to vary among them. An additional finding was that being a school social worker is often a solitary role in the organization, and therefore most of them highlight the importance of enjoying independent work and having a co-worker to discuss their work with.