This diploma thesis focuses on career guidance in primary and mainly lower secondary schools. The goal of the thesis is to identify and describe the best practices of career guidance from the perspective of a lower secondary school career or educational counsellor, and also from the perspective of the education system. The theoretical part fulfills this goal by describing inspirational approaches to career guidance in selected European countries (Finland, England and France). Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, the research part examines and describes the work of six career guidance facilitators at four lower secondary schools and one upper secondary school, which were purposefully selected as possible examples of best practice. The outcome of the thesis is a detailed insight into the attitudes and approaches to career guidance of the selected respondents, description of 36 unique career guidance activities, and a set of both systemic and specific recommendations for improving the state of career guidance in lower secondary schools. Although the work is focused on lower secondary schools, its outputs are also applicable to upper secondary schools.

The aim of this study was to investigate and analyze how counsellors in palliative care view their role as a counsellor and how they are affected by the emotional labor. The study is based on qualitative interviews with six counsellors that work in palliative care and a thematic analysis was used to analyze the interviews. The study is conducted in order to gain an understanding of how the counsellors view their professional role in the advanced healthcare at the home in palliative care as well as the impact the work has on the counsellors and what methods and support is available. Role theory and Hochschild's theory of emotional labor was used to analyze the result. The result shows that counsellors are secure in their role as a counsellor and that they find support in their colleagues and management. They handle their emotions by separating their personal selves from their professional selves. A big workload was among the things that was seen as a challenge. The things that the counsellors found giving with their work were satisfaction and excitement.

Cyberbullying is a phenomenon that has negative impact on children’s and adolescents’ mental health and can be categorized as a potential mental health issue. Research suggests that school climate, the school’s unity and collaboration between school counsellors and personnel and the work with students and guardians is of importance in preventing and acting against cyberbullying. The aim of this study is to investigate how school counsellors on lower secondary schools describe their work with cyberbullying and how they speak about the collaboration with other professions within the school in their work against cyberbullying. The study’s theoretical frame is based on Danermark’s (2005) collaboration model and the collected material consists of seven semi-structured qualitative interviews with school counsellors which have been analysed thematically.  The results suggest that school personnel and guardians need to create knowledge and competence about social media and cyberbullying as it is a comprehensive problem that is constantly evolving. The importance of relationships with students is addressed for a successful work against cyberbullying where pedagogical staff are often described as having better relationships with students, which means that the school counsellors’ collaboration with other school personnel becomes important for detecting and resolving cyberbullying. The results of the study show that the school counsellors shed light on several factors that affect the collaborative work and how it takes place. The school counsellors emphasize the importance of collegial relationships to develop a favourable collaboration. Furthermore, school counsellors describe that different views in a pedagogically dominated school world creates challenges and make the collaboration work more complex. The results also show that the school as an organization should be characterized by an open discussion about cyberbullying. / Nätmobbning är ett fenomen som har en negativ inverkan på barn och ungdomars mentala hälsa och kan kategoriseras som en potentiell psykisk hälsofråga. Forskning visar att skolmiljö, skolans sammanhållning och samverkan mellan skolkuratorer och skolpersonal samt arbetet med elever och vårdnadshavare är av betydelse för att förebygga och åtgärda nätmobbning. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur skolkuratorer på högstadieskolor beskriver deras arbete kring nätmobbning i skolan samt hur de talar om samverkan mellan andra professioner inom skolan i deras arbete mot nätmobbning. Studien har en teoretisk utgångspunkt i Danermarks (2005) samverkansmodell och det insamlade materialet består av sju semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med skolkuratorer som har analyserats tematiskt. Studiens resultat synliggör att skolpersonal och vårdnadshavare behöver skapa kunskap och kompetens kring sociala medier och nätmobbningsproblematik då det är ett omfattade problem som ständigt utvecklas. Vikten av relationer till eleverna tas upp för ett lyckat arbete mot nätmobbning där pedagogisk personal ofta beskrivs ha godare relationer till eleverna vilket innebär att skolkuratorernas samverkan med annan skolpersonal blir betydelsefull för att upptäcka och åtgärda nätmobbning. I studiens resultat belyser skolkuratorerna flera faktorer hur samverkansarbetet mot nätmobbning påverkas och utspelar sig. Skolkuratorerna lyfter fram den kollegiala relationens betydelse för att utveckla en gynnsam samverkan.  Vidare beskriver vissa skolkuratorer att skilda synsätt i en pedagogiskt dominerad skolvärld skapar utmaningar och gör samverkansarbetet mer komplext. Resultatet visar också att skolan som organisation bör präglas av en öppen diskussion kring nätmobbning.

This study embarked on exploring the experience of becoming and being a lay volunteer counsellor from a psychological perspective. Six participants were interviewed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as the research method. Race and gender are divided equally amongst Black, Caucasian, male, and female participants. Numerous dimensions relating to the lived experience of lay volunteer counsellors are investigated in the present literature, suggesting that the experience of becoming and being a lay volunteer counsellor is multifaceted. The subjective experience of each of the participants was explored, with the optimism that this exploration would expound on the multilateralism of these facets. Although specific experiences remain exclusive to each participant, the intersecting and co-creation of meanings culminated in the cultivation of themes common to the participants. These themes are examined against the literature, critically appraising supportive and distinct suggestions. As is evident from the results, participants have a profound appreciation of the stimuli which influence their experiences of lay volunteer counselling, but also of the circumstances surrounding the origins of their sense of volunteerism. Even though some of the literature addressed themes relevant to the participants’ experiences, a small number of themes could not be juxtaposed against available literature. Based on the narratives of the participants, as well as data in the literature, volunteers constitute a reasonable component of the service sector and assist a sizeable population. Therefore, the value of the lay volunteer counselling population should be recognised in order to develop further training and support programmes for this subpopulation. As it appears, recognising the essence of this value begins with appreciating the experience of becoming and being a lay volunteer counsellor. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Psychology / unrestricted

Studiens syfte var att undersöka skolors och skolkuratorers arbete med att uppmärksamma, förebygga och motverka hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck. Intervjuer genomfördes med sex skolkuratorer i en kvalitativ intervjustudie. Resultatet visade varierande erfarenheter gällande skolans arbete med och kunskap om problematiken. En stor del av skolkuratorerna beskrev en avsaknad av en handlingsplan och riktade insatser specifikt mot hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck medan ett fåtal beskrev ett mer utvecklat och inriktat arbete mot problematiken. Mänskliga rättigheter och barnkonventionen visade sig vara grundläggande beståndsdelar i det förebyggande och motverkande arbetet och att kunskap och relationen till eleven är av vikt för att kunna uppmärksamma och upptäcka problematiken. Samverkan, organisatoriska faktorer samt sociala konstruktioner ansågs påverka handlingsutrymmet och arbetet med hedersrelaterat våld och förtryck. Resultatet visade även ett behov av ständig kompetensutveckling samt att det förebyggande och motverkande arbetet alltid måste utvecklas och uppdateras. / The aim of the study was to examine how schools and school counselors pay attention to, prevent and counteract honour related violence and oppression. Six school counselors were interviewed in a qualitative study. Results showed varying experiences regarding the school’s work with and knowledge of the problem. A majority described a lack of an action plan and specific interventions against honour related violence and oppression while a few described a focused work against the problem. Human rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child were fundamental components of the preventive and counteracting work and that knowledge and the relationship with the student are important to be able to pay attention to and identify the problem. Collaboration, organizational factors and social constructions affected the work and discretion. The results demonstrate a need for constant competence development and that preventive and counteracting work must always be developed and updated.

The following paper aims to study the therapeutic alliance between professional counselors working in healthcare and their patients. The purpose of the study is to develop an understanding of how the professional counselors treat clients to create an alliance, how they act when the alliance is deemed damaged and how they follow up the alliance to the client. The study is a qualitative study and to collect data, semi-structured interviews were designed with eight counselors who work in health care. To analyze the data, a thematic analysis was used. The results show that the counselors create alliance to their clients by building trust using a range of character and personality traits and strategies where the characteristics that the counselor and/or the patient possess can influence the difficulty of success. To repair a ruptured alliance, the professional may pause and consider a new approach, discuss the patient's reaction, use metacommunication or backtrack and apologize as strategies. The results show that counselors tend to follow up the alliance with their patients. For the most part, the follow up is done verbally by asking questions about the patient's experience of the meeting. The follow up can take place before, during or after the meeting.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how study and career guidance counsellors view their profession in connection with a professional license with the main questions being: 1.     Should a professional licensing card for study and career guidance counsellors be introduced? 2.     How would a professional licensing affect the professionalization of the study and career guidance counsellors’ profession? This study is made from the perspective of professional study and career guidance counsellors and is intended for them, school leaders, employers, and politicians within school-working life, to hopefully develop the professional role, status and competence of study and career guidance counsellors. A quantitative method was used to gather information from working professionals through a survey that was published in different social media forums such as LinkedIn and Facebook. The survey was also sent out to people within the writer’s social network. The NICE handbook by Schiersmann, Ertelt, Katsarov, Mulvey, Reid och Weber (2012) has been used to analyse the results given by the respondents and has been the basis of this study. The main result shows that from a study and career guidance counsellor perspective, a professional licensing would be beneficial for the profession and is sought after. However, the results show that licensing is more sought after within the world of academics. This is due to the varying work and work titles that study and career guidance counsellors outside of the academic world have, thus a professional license might act more restricting rather than being a step towards professionalisation.

Les enfants en situation de handicap ont souvent besoin de soutien supplémentaire pour favoriser leur intégration sociale et leur bien-être en camps de jour (Brookman, 2003; Edwards & Smith, 1989; Murphy et al., 2008; Siperstein, 2009). Pour répondre à ce besoin, les accompagnateurs d’enfants en situation de handicap doivent avoir une formation adéquate pour les préparer à leur rôle de soutien (Baldwin et al., 2010; Ko et al., 2012; Lawrence et al., 2006; Wahl-Alexander, 2017; Waller et al., 2017). Cette recherche avait pour but de comparer une formation synchrone et une formation autoguidée en ligne du point de vue des habiletés, de l’anxiété et de la détresse psychologique de 34 accompagnateurs dans le cadre d’un essai randomisé contrôlé. L’acceptabilité sociale de la formation autoguidée en ligne a aussi été comparée à celle de la formation synchrone. Les résultats indiquent qu’il n’y avait pas de différence dans les habiletés acquises, l’anxiété et la détresse psychologique des participants entre le pré-test et le post-test, peu importe leur modalité de formation. L’acceptabilité sociale était aussi la même dans les deux groupes de participants. D’autres études doivent être réalisées avec un plus grand échantillon, mais les résultats actuels suggèrent que la formation autoguidée en ligne serait au moins équivalente à la formation synchrone. Pour la pratique psychoéducative, cette conclusion soulève la possibilité de mettre en place de nouvelles modalités d’intervention. / Children with disabilities often need extra support to promote their social integration and well-being in day camps (Brookman, 2003; Edwards & Smith, 1989; Murphy et al., 2008; Siperstein, 2009). To meet this need, counsellors that support children with disabilities must have adequate training to prepare them for this role (Baldwin et al., 2010; Ko et al., 2012; Lawrence et al., 2006; Wahl-Alexander, 2017; Waller et al., 2017). The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a synchronous training and a self-guided online training on the skills and well-being of 34 counsellors using a randomized controlled trial. The social validity of the self-guided online training was also compared to the one of the synchronous training. The results show that there were no differences in the basic skills or the psychological well-being of the participants when comparing both training modalities. Social validity scores were also similar across both groups. The results of this Master’s thesis suggest that the self-guided online training would be at least equivalent to the synchronous training. However, studies with larger sample sizes are needed to replicate these findings. Implications for the field of psychoeducation include initial support for the use of new and diversified intervention methods.

I den här studien beskrivs hur skolkuratorer arbetar förebyggande mot kränkande behandling för att främja elevers välmående och utveckling. Studien syftar till att undersöka skolkuratorers arbetssätt gällande förebyggande arbete mot kränkande behandling på grundskolan. Frågeställningar för att uppfylla studiens syfte är: Hur arbetar skolkuratorer förebyggande mot kränkande behandling? Hur är handlingsutrymmet i det förebyggande arbetet mot kränkande behandling utifrån skolkuratorers perspektiv? Hur ser samverkan ut med andra professioner i det förebyggande arbetet mot kränkande behandling? För att uppfylla studiens syfte och behandla frågeställningarna valdes en kvalitativ metod i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Datainsamlingen transkriberades och analyserades genom tematisk analys och jämfördes sedan med relevant tidigare forskning inom det aktuella ämnet. Resultatet som presenteras innebär att det förebyggande arbetet mot kränkande behandling utförs på olika sätt, på olika nivåer. Andra betydande delar i studien påvisar handlingsutrymmet och samverkan med andra yrkesprofessioner på skolan. Resultatet har diskuterats och analyserats med en grund i den systemteoretiska utvecklingsekologiska teorin, vilket har varit studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt. Ytterligare fynd, som studien redovisar, är: förebyggande arbetssätt i form av vuxennärvaro, värdegrundsarbete och förebyggande i kombination med åtgärdande arbete. / This study describes how school counsellors work to prevent bullying in order to ensure pupils' well-being and development. The aim of the study is to investigate school counsellors' approaches to preventing bullying in primary schools.  The questions posed to fulfill the purpose of the study are: How do school counsellors work to prevent bullying? From the perspective of school counsellors, how is the professional discretion in the prevention of bullying? How is the collaboration with other professions present in the prevention work preventing bullying? In order to fulfill the study's purpose and answer the research questions, a qualitative method was chosen using semi-structured interviews. The data collection was transcribed and analyzed through thematic analysis and then compared with relevant previous research on the topic of bullying. The result of the study shows that the prevention work against bullying is carried out in different ways at different levels. Other significant elements of the study are the scope of action and the interaction with other groups of professionals present and active at a school. The presented result is discussed and analyzed with the basis in the system theoretical developmental ecological theory, which has been the theoretical starting point of the study. Other findings in the study are: preventive approaches in the form of adult presence, value-based work and prevention combined with remedial work.

This study aims to explore the perspective of school counsellors on sibling violence, focusing on their understanding of the phenomenon through their professional experiences and their perceptions of their own abilities in addressing it. The study was conducted through a qualitative approach, where six school counsellors working with teenagers aged thirteen years and up were interviewed using a semi-structured interview method. The findings of this study suggest that school counsellors play an important role in identifying, responding, and promoting change in cases of sibling violence within the school system. Furthermore, their observations indicate that the family environment can be significant to the occurrence of sibling violence through the normalisation and perpetuation of the violence, be it directly or through a general culture of violence in the family. Additionally, the occurrence of sibling violence has also been observed to have some potential consequences for persons experiencing it, such as anxiety, low self-esteem, and mistrust of others.