Exploring the Roles of Social Work Professions to Enhance Student Well-being in a Danish Formal Primary/lower Secondary School Setting
Author
Kitaguchi, Yoko
Term
4. Semester
Publication year
2021
Submitted on
2021-06-14
Pages
81
Abstract
Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan socialfaglige professioner kan styrke elevers trivsel i danske, formelle grundskoler (indskoling til 9. klasse), med særligt blik for en skolekontekst i Aalborg Kommune. Afhandlingen placerer studiet i en international ramme om skolens roller i forhold til uddannelse og trivsel samt udviklingen af skole-socialt arbejde i blandt andet Tyskland, Taiwan, Malta og Danmark. På baggrund af litteraturen beskrives elevtrivsel som påvirket af flere niveauer – fra internationale og politisk‑ideologiske forhold til skoleorganisering, familieforhold og individuelle vilkår – herunder faktorer som krig og migration, fattigdom, vold, diskrimination, funktionsnedsættelser og boligforhold. I Aalborg samarbejder skoler med kommunale Familie- og Specialteams samt PPR’s tværfaglige enhed; et tidligere forsøgsprojekt med socialrådgivere på skoler viste positive effekter, men indsatserne er endnu ujævnt implementeret. Afhandlingen stiller tre spørgsmål: hvilke faktorer påvirker elevtrivsel, hvilke indsatser anvender socialfaglige professioner i skolemiljøet, og hvad betyder fundene for en bredere definition af skole-socialt arbejde i Danmark. Forskningsdesignet omfatter en kvalitativ udforskning med informanter i en skole, understøttet af interviewretningslinjer (bilag), og inddrager erfaringer fra lærere, socialpædagoger og en trivselsmedarbejder samt gennemgang af politik og litteratur. I den indledende analyse kortlægges de flerniveaufaktorer, eksisterende skolebaserede indsatser og centrale samarbejds- og strukturudfordringer mellem skole og kommune; samtidig fremhæves potentialet i socialpædagoger og trivselsfunktioner som skolebaserede sociale aktører. Afhandlingen peger mod behov for tydeligere og bredere rolleforståelser samt styrket tværfagligt samarbejde, som kan integrere socialfaglige indsatser i skolen og dermed fremme elevtrivsel.
This thesis examines how social work professions can enhance student well-being in Danish formal primary/lower secondary schools, with a focus on a school context in Aalborg Municipality. It situates the inquiry within international debates on the role of schooling in education and reviews the development of school social work in Germany, Taiwan, Malta, and Denmark. Drawing on the literature, student well-being is presented as shaped by multiple levels—from international and political–ideological dynamics to school structures, family conditions, and individual circumstances—including factors such as war and migration, poverty, violence, discrimination, disability, and housing. In Aalborg, schools collaborate with municipal Family and Special teams and a multidisciplinary PPR; a recent pilot placing social workers in schools showed positive effects, though implementation remains uneven. The study poses three questions: which factors influence student well-being, what school-based interventions are used by social work professions, and what these findings imply for a broader definition of school social work in Denmark. The research design takes a qualitative, exploratory approach with informants in a school setting, supported by interview guidelines (appendix), and incorporates experiences of teachers, social pedagogues, and a well-being staff member alongside policy and literature review. The initial analysis maps multi-level influences on well-being, catalogs existing school-based supports, and identifies key collaboration and structural challenges between schools and municipal services, while highlighting the potential of social pedagogues and well-being roles as school-based social work actors. The thesis points to the need for clearer, broader role definitions and stronger cross-disciplinary collaboration to integrate social work within schools and better support student well-being.
[This summary has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project (PDF)]
Documents