Relationer, samsyn och trygghet

: En studie i att främja skolnärvaro och förebygga skolfrånvaro

Abstract

The background to this study is the dilemma that school is important as it gives you valuable knowledge and also a social affiliation, but despite this the proportion of students who end up in problematic school absence increases and this can have major negative consequences for the individual.

The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge about what some special educators and a municipality´s coordinator for the work on problematic school absence describe as central in the work of promoting attendance and to identify and remove obstacles in the school environment to prevent absenteeism.

The questions are: What is described as central to the work of promoting school attendance in some schools? What is described as central to the work of preventing problematic school absence? How can the result be understood in relation to relational pedagogy and teacher´s relational competence, Sense of Coherence and systems theory? 

The methods used are both a qualitative semi-structured interview with a coordinator of the work with problematic school absenteeism, as well as questionnaires with open and closed questions asked to special educators, of which 20 answered the questionnaire. All respondents in both the interview and the survey are professionals in the same municipality.

The results of the study confirm what research and literature say about the importance of routines for managing absence, that learning environments should be accessible and adapted based on students’ needs, that it is important to have a confident school climate where students feel involved, that trusting relationships, mainly with adults at school is a success factor and that a functioning school organization with a collegial collaboration between professions and a student health with a mandate to lead the work is a prerequisite.

The special pedagogical implications and the special pedagogical assignment are the work towards a relational perspective with promotion of good relationships in focus, design of accessible learning environments that have a context all students fell involved in, collaboration and teamwork between different professions and drive competence development involving neuropsychiatric difficulties.