Even though it is prescribed by law in Sweden that children in elementary school must fulfil a compulsory education, a significant number of students are absent. The aim of this thesis is therefore to analyse two municipalities’, Halmstad and Borås, efforts to improve student attendance in elementary school. The two municipalities are of middle size with approximately the same number of citizens and elementary schools. Both municipalities, that have large autonomy, have recently developed new policies regarding how schools should manage absence in elementary school. By studying these policies and interviewing responsible authorities, principals and representatives from student health care, the goal is to find out what governance models characterize the municipalities’ efforts to promote attendance in school. The methods used are of a qualitative character and the interviews semi-structured. The theoretical framework concentrates on organization theory, such as management models, instrumental, mythical and culture perspectives and evaluation.   The results found show that the management model is strongly dominating the governance within the educational system. However, the practical methods used to promote school attendance depend in wide measures on experience and values among the actors working with the students, indicating a cultural perspective. Since the management model is dominating the governance of the school system, and this model highlights public servants’ acting space, the actors’ values and interpretations become important factors for the outcome.

In Sweden schooling is compulsory between the ages of six and sixteen. This also includes a right toeducation. Despite that there are situations where students are absent. Absent in a way that forthemselves can be problematic. In order to contribute to an understanding of the phenomenon ofproblematic school absence and how the school can work with that student group, the aim of the studywas thus to investigate the underlying factors surrounding problematic school absence and how theschool can work to promote the presence of the students based on selected literature and its authors.The authors are different practitioners who work or research the subject of problematic schoolabsence.The method used was a qualitative content analysis based on 4 different types of literature onthe subject of problematic school absence.The results show that there is no single explanation for why students develop a problematic schoolabsence. This becomes clear as the study's selected biography only to some extent gives a problempicture similar to what the rest of the material shows. The reasons for the absence are many and theycan often be related to each other. The results also show the difficulty of having a general definition ofwhat problematic school absences mean. Usually several different concepts are used, home-sitting andproblematic school absence are two examples. The results also show that the school has a large andimportant role in working to ensure that the student enjoys school where the relationship betweenteacher and student can be seen as a presence-promoting factor. Finally, it is difficult to find examplesof a single working method to promote school attendance. One of the reasons may be that there are somany different reasons for the absence and no absence is the sameKeyword: Problematic school absence, Promoting school attendance, School refusal

Problematic school absenteeism is a growing problem that affects society as a whole. Every youth is unique and the educational path does not look the same for everyone. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate how social workers handle and collaborate on problematic school absenteeism in Sweden. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six social workers from different professional fields. When analyzing results, the bioecological model and its system levels were applied. Internal factors that were shown to contribute to absenteeism were anxiety, communication difficulties and neuropsychiatric diagnoses. External factors that emerged were the institutional policies, norms, family, school and relational conditions. The social workers consider home visits to the pupils' families and close relationships as some important and successful factors in reducing school absenteeism. Cooperation needs to take place on several levels for pupils to return to school and integrate into society.

Tahe starting point of this study is to investigate how the school organizationally works as an institution to counteract problematic school absence. The school is a large part of society as well as an institution that shapes the citizens, at the same time as the schools have a mission to promote the individual´s progression and learning. The schools function to benefit society as well individuals with their personal development make the school a complex organization. The school's organization includes many different areas and it’s therefore difficult to examine in this individual study. We have therefore chosen to focus on the school staff´s work with problematic school absence. The theoretical ground this study is based on is called 'street level bureaucracy'. This theory describes the school staff’s labor from within an organization while having direct contact with members of the general public. The Swedish analogy of this term is gräsrotsbyråkrati. The material that will be used consists of existing literature on the subject as well as interviews conducted with school staff in which they provide their experience of how the organization works with students' problematic school absence. Through the school staff’s experience, we can get a deeper insight into schools organizational structures. The study's conclusion is that school staff need to have a greater influence in the organization's management. Furthermore this study concludes that school staff in general have a much higher need to influence the creation of government documents than they currently have. This need for more influence stems from the fact that they themselves have to carry out these policies on a daily basis and therefore have the necessary expertise on the subject.

The number of students with long-term problematic school absence is increasing and should be seen as a serious social problem. The purpose of the study was to investigate the views of school counselors and social workers on how the collaboration between schools and social services works around students in high school with long-term problematic school absence, but also how the respondents view these students and what works well or hinders collaboration between the professions. Finally, it was investigated whether there was a need for improvements linked to the work with school absenteeism and the collaboration work around the group. The study was conducted using a qualitative method and the empirical material is based on semi-structured interviews with three school counselors and three social workers. The results were analyzed using thematic analysis, previous research and two theories: samverkansteori and systemteori. The study shows that there is collaboration between the organizations around the children and that there are several success factors and obstacles. Conditions for good collaboration were described as working with combined forces, relational work, understanding each other, clear roles and working with the pupil's system. Barriers identified were lack of resources, not having parents with them, confidentiality and unrealistic expectations. The interviewees had many wishes for improvement; more resources, different interventions, teams for collaboration and more preventive work.

Bakgrund: Barn med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar är överrepresenterade avseende problematisk skolfrånvaro. Långsiktiga konsekvenser av skolfrånvaron kan vara nedsatt social funktion, sämre förutsättningar till examen, försämrad hälsa och kortare livslängd. Skolsköterskans hälsofrämjande och förebyggande insatser syftar till att minska risk för ohälsa samt stärka hälsa och skyddsfaktorer. Skolsköterskans roll kopplas till känsla av sammanhang, KASAM, samt involvera barn och förälder i omvårdnaden. Syfte: Syftet är att beskriva skolsköterskors erfarenhet av hälsofrämjande insatser för att öka skolnärvaron hos barn med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar i åk. F till 6. Metod: Kvalitativ metod med induktiv ansats. Datainsamlingen utfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio skolsköterskor. Materialet analyserades genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Studien resulterade i tre kategorier: Vara flexibel och tillgänglig, Samordna insatser och Främja delaktighet. Hälsosamtalen är grundläggande för skolsköterskans arbete med barnets behov i centrum, för att kunna främja stöd och åtgärder som kan öka skolnärvaron. Skolsköterskor lyssnar in barnet, för dennes talan samt stöttar föräldrar som har svårt att få till rutiner och bidrar därigenom till ökad skolnärvaro. Konklusion: Skolsköterskans roll är komplex och central i det hälsofrämjande arbetet med barn som har neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar, för att öka skolnärvaro. Skolsköterskor kan genom flexibilitet, tillgänglighet och delaktighet tidigt upptäcka barn med svårigheter och begynnande skolfrånvaro. Samverkan beskrivs som centralt för att möta barnens behov. / Background: Children with neuropsychiatric disabilities are over-represented regarding problematic school absence. Long-term consequences of school absence can be reduced social function, poorer conditions for graduation, deteriorated health and shorter lifespan. The school nurses´ health promotion and prevention efforts aim to reduce the risk of ill health and strengthen health and protective factors. The school nurses´ role is linked to a sense of context, KASAM, as well as involving children and parents in nursing. Aim: The purpose is to describe school nurses' experience of health-promoting efforts to increase school attendance among children with neuropsychiatric disabilities in school, in degrees F to 6. Method: Qualitative method with inductive approach. The data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews with ten school nurses´. The material was analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Findings: The study resulted in three categories: Be flexible and available, Coordinate efforts and Promote participation. The health talks are fundamental to the school nurses´ work with the child's needs, to promote support and measures that can increase school attendance. School nurses listen to, speak up for the child, and support parents with difficulties getting into routines and thereby contribute to increased school attendance. Conclusion: The school nurses´ role is complex and central in the health promotion work with children who have neuropsychiatric disabilities, to increase school attendance. Through flexibility, availability and participation, school nurses´ can early detect children with difficulties and incipient absenteeism. Collaboration is described as central to meeting the children's needs. / <p>Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.</p><p>There are other digital material (eg film, image or audio files) or models/artifacts that belongs to the thesis and need to be archived.</p>

I denna studie är syftet att undersöka hur respondenter från olika verksamheter upplever ansvarsfördelning och samverkan kring elever med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning som har en problematisk skolfrånvaro. Vidare undersöks vilka faktorer som orsakar skolfrånvaro samt hur skolorna konkret arbetar förebyggande för att elever inte ska bli frånvarande från skolan. I Sverige finns 5500 barn som inte går till skolan och som därmed inte når kunskapsmålen. Följden av en problematisk skolfrånvaro kan innebära psykisk ohälsa hos eleven, men även påverka elevens framtid negativt i form av marginalisering och utanförskap. Det empiriska materialet, som har analyserats genom en systemteoretisk ingång, har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med verksamma inom skola samt barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin. I resultatet framgår vikten av samverkan och tydliga rutiner kring ansvarsfördelning för att skolor och barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin ska ha möjlighet att arbeta förebyggande kring elever med en neuropsykiatrisk funktionsnedsättning som har en problematisk skolfrånvaro. Resultatet lyfter att trygghet, delaktighet, struktur och relationer är avgörande för att elever ska vilja komma till skolan. Slutsatsen pekar på att det finns strukturella brister i det gemensamma ansvaret mellan skola, vårdinstanser och föräldrar kring barn och unga med en problematisk skolfrånvaro. Den visar även betydelsen av en omgivning eleven kan känna förtroende för. / The purpose of this study is to examine how professionals from different organisations experience collaboration and division of responsibilities when it comes to pupils with a neuropsychiatric disability who have a problematic school absence. Furthermore, the purpose is to examine what causes school absence and how the professionals describe their preventive work towards pupils with the above described difficulties. Sweden has 5500 children absent from school not fulfilling the educational knowledge requirements. A problematic school absence can cause mental illness during the school years but also marginalise the individual in the future. The empirical material has been collected via semi-structured interviews with professionals within school and psychiatric care for children and youth. The result has been analysed using systems theory. The result indicates the importance of collaboration between professions. To enable the preventive work of schools’ and the psychiatric care for children and youth, the need for a clear division of responsibilities is crucial. The result shows that pupils are more likely to be present in school if they feel safe and are given the opportunity to influence. Structure in the school environment and relations are also described as important. The conclusion indicates structural shortcomings in the responsibilities shared between schools, healthcare and parents regarding children with a neuropsychiatric disability who have a problematic school absence. It also shows the importance of creating a surrounding the pupil can trust.

Den svenska lagstiftningen säger att alla barn och ungdomar har rätt till utbildning. Trots den svenska lagstiftningen är det många som inte kommer till skolan och därför hamnar i en långvarig skolfrånvaroproblematik. Detta kan ses som ett samhällsproblem men också som ett individproblem då barn och ungdomar inte tar del av undervisning och därmed rättigheten till utbildning. Studie- och yrkesvägledaren är en av professionerna i skolan som många gånger ingår i elevhälsoteamet och som arbetar med elevproblematik kring skolfrånvaro. Många gånger blir studie- och yrkesvägledaren en sista utväg i arbete med skolfrånvaron. Syftet med denna studie var att belysa vägledningen med elever med långvarig skolfrånvaro utifrån studie- och yrkesvägledarnas synvinkel. Detta genomfördes genom att utforska på vilket sätt studie- och yrkesvägledarna erfor samtalsprocessen med utgångspunkt i en fenomenologisk ansats. Den fenomenologiska ansatsen användes för att få en djupare förståelse för vägledarnas sammanhang och hur de gav mening åt samtalsprocessen. Insamlandet av data gjordes genom att använda den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. Därefter bearbetades och analyserades materialet utifrån en modifiering av interpretativ fenomenologisk analys. Utifrån gjorda intervjuer visade det sig att studie- och yrkesvägledarna drevs av altruistiska motiv att hjälpa eleverna dock upplevde de svårigheter i att nå eleverna samt att de upplevde att deras roll kopplas in sent i processen. Den beskrivna problematiken tolkades i studien som upplevelser av motstånd och spänningsfält i samtalsprocessen mellan inblandade aktörer. / According to Swedish legislation, children and youths all have the right to education. Even though it is decided by law, many pupils are absent from their schools. The consequences of this lead to long-term school absence for pupils. This can be seen as a problem both on a social level, but also on an individual level due to the refusal of their rights to education. Career counselling is one of the professions that are occasionally involved in the health aspects of the pupils. The role of the career counselor is sometimes used as a last resort to the problematics of long-term absence among pupils. The purpose of this study was to shed a light on the counselling process with pupils with long-term absence from the point of view of the career counselors’ experiences. This was approached through a phenomenological theory and through qualitative interviews with career counselors. The phenomenological approach was used to gain a deeper understanding of the contexts of the counselors’ and how they made sense of the conversation process. Data collection was done using the qualitative research interview. Subsequently, the material was processed and analyzed based on a modification of interpretative phenomenological analysis. The interviews showed that the career counselors were driven by altruistic motives to help, however, experienced difficulties in reaching the pupils and that their role was usually involved late within the process of counseling the pupils. The problematic of this aspect of career counselling was interpreted in this study as resistance and tension within the conversation process between the parties involved.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur olika aktörer inom det människobehandlande området arbetar med hemmasittande ungdomar. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter är KASAM, systemteori och nyinstitutionell organisationsteori. Datainsamlingen skedde genom kvalitativa, strukturerade intervjuer med sex olika aktörer inom det människobehandlande området. Resultatet av denna studie visar att det är skolan som uppmärksammar problemet och att det inom vissa områden arbetas i större utsträckning med målgruppen än på andra, men att det inte finns något generellt övergripande arbetssätt med hemmasittande ungdomar i de aktuella kommunerna. Det framkommer även att samverkansformen SIP – samordnad individuell plan – används framgångsrikt i samtliga kommuner. Att genomföra samverkan beskrivs av de flesta aktörer fungera bra, men att önskat resultat av samverkan inte alltid uppnås. En bra relation mellan elev och lärare samt ett gott samarbete mellan hemmet och skolan är de mest främjande faktorerna för att få en elev tillbaka till skolan. / The aim of the study has been to examine how different actors within human service professionals deal with dropout-students. The theoretical perspectives used are KASAM, general systems theory and neo-institutional organizational theory. The data for this study was collected in a series of qualitative and structured interviews with six participants within various human service professionals. The outcome of this study shows that it is the school that signals if there is a problem and it shows that in some areas this pursues higher focus on target groups but there isn’t an overall way of working with dropout-students in the local authorities that this study contains. It also emerges that the form of collaboration – Coordinated Individual Plan – used successfully in all municipalities. To implement collaboration described by most actors works well, but the desired result of collaboration is not always achieved. A good relationship between student and teachers and a good collaboration between home and school are the most promoting factors to get a student back to school.

The study examines the factors that cause school absenteeism and how the high school/upper secondary can work to prevent school absenteeism and promote school attendance. The overall purpose of the study was to investigate what the high school/upper secondary school students describe as absenteeism prevention and promote attendance. The theoretical framework for the study consists of a socio-cultural perspective, a relational perspective, and the theory of KASAM. The study approach is qualitative and the study data were collected through mixed methods where semi-structured interviews were supplemented with a survey of the high school/upper secondary school students in grades 2 and 3. Based on the students' descriptions, the school's work on preventing absence and promoting attendance can be seen as complex. The students show, as in previous research, that many different factors influence the students' attendance and absence and that the causal factors can vary from student to student. The result further shows that there are a variety of factors related to the school's learning environments that can prevent absenteeism and promote attendance. The conclusion of the study highlights the importance of high school/upper secondary school working to strengthen students' motivation, participation, security, health, wellness and well-being. Highschool/upper secondary school should also work actively to ensure that the learning environment in the school is varied and that the teaching is adapted to the diversity of pupils' needs and conditions. Based on the results, it is determined that a broad repertoire of strategies and methods is needed in the school's absence prevention and attendance promotion work. The special pedagogical relevance of the study is made visible by the study showing that the school's attendance promotion and absence prevention work is strengthened by the school working to identify and map obstacles and opportunities in the school's educational, social and physical learning environments and based on the development of the school's learning environments at both individual and organizational levels.