This essay investigated which professional group within the school is estimated to have the highest degree of theoretical knowledge and competence to intervene in mental illness among students. The study has also looked at which organizational conditions are important for identification and intervention and whether school staff believe that something is missing toachieve this. The study was done through a web survey and was answered by teachers and counselors working in elementary school. The survey contained open questions where the respondents' possible lack of routines and guidelines and support were requested. The central theoretical view was systems theory, which were used to interpret the material. The materialwas analyzed using cross-tabulations, t-tests and linear regression analyses. The results showed that more than double the number of counselors than teachers have further training inmental illness. Within theoretical knowledge, competence to intervene, routines and guidelines and support, counselors rate themselves higher than teachers. Teachers rate themselves lowest regarding theoretical knowledge and counselors answered “perceived support”. Both groups rate routines and guidelines the highest, but they also respond that it´s lacking. The result shows significant differences between the groups regarding theoretical knowledge and competence to intervene. Further education has a positive impact on perceived theoretical knowledge and competence to intervene. Transboundary work and a "whole school approach" are important for school social work, which will also be important to examine in further research. / Denna uppsats undersökte vilken yrkesgrupp inom skolan som skattar sig ha högst grad av teoretisk kunskap och kompetens att intervenera vid psykisk ohälsa bland elever. Studien har även sett till vilka organisatoriska förutsättningar som är viktiga vid identifiering och intervenering samt om skolpersonal anser att det saknas någonting för att uppnå detta. Studien genomfördes genom en webbenkät och besvarades av lärare yrkesverksamma inom årskurs F6 samt skolkuratorer yrkesverksamma inom årskurserna F-9. Enkäten innehöll öppna frågor där respondenternas eventuella avsaknad gällande rutiner och riktlinjer samt stöd efterfrågades. Den centrala teoretiska utgångspunkten var systemteori vilket användes för tolkning av materialet. Det insamlade materialet analyserades med hjälp av korstabeller, t-test och linjära regressionsanalyser. Resultatet visade att mer än dubbla antalet skolkuratorer än lärare har vidareutbildning kring psykisk ohälsa. Inom teoretisk kunskap, kompetens att intervenera, rutiner och riktlinjer samt stöd skattade sig skolkuratorerna högre än lärarna. Lärarna skattade sig lägst kring teoretisk kunskap och skolkuratorerna skattade sig lägst kring upplevt stöd på arbetsplatsen. Båda yrkesgrupperna skattade sig högst kring rutiner och riktlinjer men de svarade även att tydliga rutiner och riktlinjer saknas. Resultatet visade signifikanta skillnader mellan yrkeskategorierna avseende teoretisk kunskap samt kompetens att intervenera. Vidareutbildning har en positiv påverkan på den upplevda teoretiska kunskapen och kompetensen att intervenera. Ett professionsöverskridande arbete och ”whole school approach”är viktigt för det skolsociala arbetet vilket även blir viktigt att undersökas i vidare forskning.

The aim of this essay is to study how school counselors describe and cope with the challenges of carrying the psychosocial assignment within school and what they need in order to be able to carry out their assignment. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with school counselors and analyzed using thematic analysis and coping theory. Based on the school counselors' perspectives, the results demonstrate that the psychosocial assignment needs to include a holistic view of the pupil and that the core of the assignment is to work preventatively. The study identified challenges that school counselors face including high workload, lack of resources and a perspective which clashes with the pedagogical perspective, thus leaving the school counselors lonely in carrying their role. To deal with these challenges, school counselors use different coping strategies such as seeking support from colleagues and through external mentoring. To facilitate for the school counselors to carry out their assignment adequately, the study emphasizes the need for trust, legitimacy and discretion.

School counsellors have been an occupation in Sweden since the 1940s but despite this, there is very little knowledge and research about school counsellors’ preconditions according to their work. This study aims to examine in what frequencies school counsellors’ use evidence-based methods in their work with students in senior high school. The result is based on a survey with N 215 respondents from all over Sweden and the analysis theoretical perspective is founded on evidence-based practice (EBP) and new institutional theory. The result indicates that school counsellors in Sweden do not use evidence-based methods to such an extent and that there are organisational and structural obstacles for school counsellors to base their work from evidence-based practice. There is a decoupling process where ideals of EBP do not match the reality as different kinds of logic appear and come into conflict with each other over whose legitimacy is the one that should dominate the organizational field. To increase the conditions, a school management that provides support and enables professional guidance and competence development is needed. The research field needs to start looking at the school counsellors’ practice from a bottom-up perspective to see what they do that works and develop EBP and the organizational field based on this. This is one way to give school counsellors’ more legitimacy.