School social worker wanted

:Descriptions of the school social worker’s assignments, tasks, organization, qualifications and skills in job advertisements The introduction of a multidisciplinary student health unit has meant that

Abstract

The introduction of a multidisciplinary student health unit has meant that psychosocial work within schools has been given a clearer position in addressing student health in Swedish schools. Despite this, previous studies show that school social workers perceive their professional job responsibilities and tasks as unclear. Previous research has focused on school social workers’ own descriptions of their professional job responsibility and tasks. The purpose of this article is to study school superintendents’ and school boards’ descriptions of school social workers’ assignments, tasks, organization and competencies and skills. The empirical material of this study consists of all job advertisements published by the Swedish Public Employment Service in 2017, where school districts had job openings for school social workers. The study used qualitative content analysis with a thematic approach. The results show that the school districts describe a clear school social jurisdiction in the job advertisements, but that this is subordinate to the goals, organization and governance of the educational activities.