Jurisdiction in school social workers’ and teachers’ work for pupils’ well-being

Abstract

This article describes how school social workers and teachers perceive their cooperation with each other with regard to pupils' well-being in Swedish schools. A total of 23 qualitative interviews were conducted with a strategic sample of teachers and school social workers. The analysis of the interview data was based on Andrew Abbott's theory of the system of professions, and the cooperation and boundary work of the two professional groups are discussed in terms of jurisdictional conflicts and "cultural machinery". The analysis shows that on a general level both school social workers and teachers seem to agree about the need for school social work, but tensions and diverging views were uncovered when investigating the cultural machinery in their daily work. This study shows how both of these professional groups protect the boundaries of their own jurisdictions, but also how these boundaries are relaxed when social workers and teachers jointly try to solve everyday problems.

Initiering av nya professioner och ny kompetens i skolan för närvarofrämjande arbete

“…Den forsk ning som presenteras här rör såväl den lagstadgade elevhälsans professioner i skolan som professioner utöver den. Tidigare studier framhåller att personal med kompletterande kompetens för häl sofrämjande skolmiljöer har ett holistiskt perspektiv på elever, till skillnad från lärare som oftast har ett individperspektiv (Balli, 2016;Isaksson & Larsson, 2017;Xing Hui & Peace, 2018). I ett samverkansprojekt mellan så kallade skolkonsulenter och externa socionomer för stöd till elever identifierade Xing Hui och Peace (2018) att skolkon sulenterna fokuserade på frågor kring eleverna innanför skolans system medan socionomerna såg på individen utifrån familjesituationen.…”

“…Precis som i flera tidigare studier blev den kompletterande kompetensens holis tiska perspektiv tydligt (jfr Balli, 2016;Isaksson & Larsson, 2017). I vårt fall hade personal med kompletterande kompetens inte enbart ett holistiskt perspektiv i för hållande till lärare, utan även till ordinarie elevhälsopersonal; allt som påverkar ele ven som människa påverkar eleven även i skolan och är därmed centralt att hantera.…”

Teaching as a Clinical Profession: Adapting the Medical Model

“…Numerous studies have applied Abbott’s theoretical framework to the study of teaching and the teaching profession, investigating, among other issues, jurisdictional competition between teachers and other professionals (e.g., Isaksson & Larsson, 2017); the role of teacher education in the professionalization of teaching (e.g., Grossman, 2008; Tamir & Wilson, 2005); teacher knowledge and performance (e.g., Glazer & Peurach, 2015; Sykes et al, 2010); and the nature of teaching as professional work (e.g., Glazer, 2007; Shalem, 2014). In this study, we use Abbott’s theoretical framework as a heuristic for analyzing the key activities of teaching as a clinical practice.…”

The Shared Duty of Special Educational Support in Mathematics: Borders and Spaces in Degree Ordinances for Pre-service Teachers

“…In Sweden, school social workers work for students' well-being on several levels and collaborate with professionals within and outside the school, and are not the same as municipality social workers that investigates families, for example. If students need someone besides their friend, teacher or parent to listen to them, or if students are absent, are involved in bullying or some other disruptive behaviour -the school social worker might become involved (for more reading see for example Isaksson & Larsson, 2017). When it comes to the special educational competence that should be available in the health care team, it is not made explicit what kind of profession or degree, is required.…”