Sweden

Not for profit

Swedish academics working in the field of school attendance problems:

• Malin Gren Landell, Med dr, Stockholm University. For information on research, please see below (in the information about Susanne Kreitz-Sandberg).
• Martin Harling, PhD and Ola Strandler, Phd, are head of a project "De osynliga: om problematisk skolfrånvaro och insatser i en lokal kontext", running from 2020 to 2022. The project is conducted in collaboration with a school and aim to analyse different actors’ understanding of problematic absenteeism and to develop ways to deal with problematic absenteeism.
• Björn Johansson, PhD in sociology, Associate Professor in social work at Örebro University. His research interest has mainly been on youths' experiences and consequences on violence and bullying. In recent years he has also addressed school absenteeism and drop-out.
• Martin Karlberg, PhD, Uppsala University.
• Susanne Kreitz-Sandberg, PhD. International Comparative Perspectives on School Attendance Problems- Analysis of statistics, risk groups and prevention in four countries. This research project is funded by the Swedish Research Council from 2020 - 2023.The purpose of this study is to investigate national, organisational and individual dimensions of school attendance problems (SAP) among 15 to 17-year-olds in Sweden, the UK, Germany and Japan. The project uses a mixed method approach combining quantitative analysis of large-scale data on the national level with qualitative case studies on the organisational and individual level. Researchers involved in the project: Malin Gren Landell, Åsa Backlund, Joakim Isaksson, Ulf Fredriksson, Maria Rasmussen (contact info can be found in the link to the website).
• Linda Mossberg, Phd, follows a collaboration project aimed at early interventions toward children in middle school with school attendance problems (approx. age 9-12 years). In this study, the following areas are examined: roles and expectations in relation to interventions and understanding of school attendance problems, including professionals’, legal guardians’, and children’s experiences. 
• Johan Strömbeck, Master in Psychology, PhD-student, Magelungen Akademi, Åbo Universitet, Åbo. The usefulness of SRAS-R, ISAP and SNACK. An evalutation of three assessment instruments for school attendance problems. Research project on translating three international instruments on school absenteeism into Swedish. 

• 2022 May 23: Part of the ERASMUS-project (see below), a conference in Oslo titled “Absenteeism - Different perspectives on improving systems and tools”. 

• Ongoing: Erasmus+ Strategic partnership – Problematic school absence
  • The aims of the project: The Erasmus+ -project Problematic school absence – Improving systems and tools aims to improve existing systems and to recommend initiatives targeted at pupils with problematic school absence. The Nordic project will examine mutual challenges in the primary and secondary education systems and work to develop a common model to improve the practice related to problematic school absence. Societal changes, results from research and experience from working with problematic school absence show the need to develop existing routines and practices in schools and in the municipalities.
  • The phases of the project: The project is divided into two main phases over 36 months. The first phase will result in a description of current guidelines and practices in the partner countries. In the second phase the project aims to suggest new guidelines, initiatives, and routines to prevent and treat problematic school absence across the Nordic countries.
  • Partners: The coordinating organisation of this Erasmus+ KA2 – Strategic Partnership is Statped (Norway). The participating organisations are Valteri Centre for Learning and Consulting (Finland), Magelungen Utveckling (Sweden) and Aarhus Kommune and Aarhus University (Denmark).
  • Contact: Peter Friberg, Magelungen Utveckling, Sweden.

• Ongoing: Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner (SKR) offers a development program, “Fullföljd utbildning” which aims to help municipalities to develop work for increased eligibility.

• Ongoing: University course on collaboration for school attendance and improved psychosocial health. Örebro University, starts in January 2022. Application closed. For further description: 

2022

• 2022 February: Report on implementation of school attendance work. Region Örebro län 

2021

• 2021 December: An investigation conducted by the National Agency for Education (Skolverket) on the conditions for setting up a system for national registration of school attendance data.
• 2021 October: A debate article on national school attendance data by Aggie Öhman
• 2021 June: Örebro län. (2021). A report on strategies to promote school attendance in the municipalities in Örebro län.
• 2021 February: International Research Anthology. The Swedish foundation “Jerringfonden” has published an international anthology on contemporary research on school attendance problems – Swedish summary and the anthology in English.
• 2021 January: Tobias Forsell (2021). Dissertation “Man är ju typ elev fast på avstånd. Problematisk skolfrånvaro ur elevers, föräldrars och skolpersonals perspektiv”. Umeå universitet

2020

• “En skola för alla” (2020). Report on projects to promote school attendance. 

2018

• 2018 January: Johansson, B., Flygare, E. & Hellfeldt. "Pass or fail? A study concerning how experiences of bullying, truancy and social relations influence pupils’ academic performance”. 
• 2018: Borås stad (2018). “Tidiga insatser”. Report from a project on early attendance to non-attendance in grades 1-3. 

Earlier

• Project aiming at supporting schools – grade 5-9 – in their work of promoting, preventing and giving interventions to increase the amount of students eligable for senior high school. https://goteborgsregionen.se/pluginnan
• Behandlingsprogram för hemmasittare. Research on short- and long-term outcomes of a CBT-based treatment for students with extensive school non-attendance. 
• #jagmed- a project running from 2016-2018 with joint effort among counties to reduce the number of young people dropping out of school. The aim was to help young people return to studies or internships/work and get a permanent affiliation to the labour market. The project was funded by the European Social Fund(ESF)
• January 2017- SOU 2016:94 “Saknad! Uppmärksamma elevers frånvaro och agera”. A governmental investigation focused on promoting attendance in the Swedish compulsory school system. The investigation was conducted by Malin Gren Landell, psychologist, PhD. The investigation resulted in changes in the school law related to school absenteeism. The changes primarily concern assessing reasons for school absenteeism, information at transitions from one school to another, and cooperation. The changes are valid from July 1st 2018. Download here. 

Reports, checklists, guidelines

• Stödmaterial från Skolverket – National guidlines for schools on promoting attendance and preventing absences.
• Skolverkets Rekommendationer för arbetet med att främja närvaro samt att förebygga och åtgärda frånvaro.
• Uppdrag Psykisk hälsa och Ifous (2019). Ifous fokuserar skolnärvaro – Report with an overview of research on promotion of school attendance
• Uppdrag Psykisk hälsa och Ifous (2020). Ifous fokuserar att utreda närvaroproblem i skolan. Report on research and a practical guideline on the assessment of school attendance problems.
• Uppdrag Psykisk hälsa och Ifous (2021). Samordnat stöd vid närvaroproblem i förskola och skola.
• Karlstad kommun – school attendance team, methods for assessment, organization of interventions to promote attendance, prevent absenteeism and deliver interventions for established school attendance problems.
• Svedala kommun – Checklist for promoting school attendance, key points for working with attendance etc.
• Norrköpings kommun – guidelines for work with promoting attendance. 
• Sveriges kommuner och landsting (2013), Vänd frånvaro till närvaro – A guide to promotion of school attendance.

Reports on prevalence of school absenteeism

• Skolverket (2021). Nationell kartläggning av elevfrånvaro. 
• Skolinspektionen (2016) Omfattande ogiltig frånvaro i Sveriges grundskolor – A quantitative report on prevalence on school absenteeism in compulsory school.
• Skolinspektionen (2016) Omfattande frånvaro – A qualitative report on prevalence on school absenteeism in compulsory school.
• Prestationsprinsen (2016) Skolans tomma stolar– A report on prevalence on school absenteeism among Swedish students in grades 4-9.

Dropout / secondary school level

• Slutrapport PlugIn 2.0 
• Europeiska Socialfonden (2021). Rätt stöd i rätt tid. 
• Region Dalarna (2018). Plugga klart - Report on a project on the prevention of dropout in a region of Sweden.
• Skolinspektionen (2015). Kvalitetsgranskning förebygga studieavbrott – A national report on Swedish schools’ work to prevent dropout from secondary school.
• GRdropout (2014). Report from a project financed by the European Social Fund. It describes statistics and studies on the effect of dropout, regional efforts and needs in the area, research studies and reports on the issue and experiences from the project.
• Temagruppen unga i arbetslivet (2013). 10 orsaker till avhopp - A national report on what students report as causes to early school leaving.

Webinars

• 2021 June: SKOLA24 – Webinar on the value of national school attendance data. 
• 2021 June: Prestationsprinsen och vänner. A webinar on national school attendance data (the webinar starts at 8.23 min) 

Books

• Gren Landell, M. (2020). An Online course. 
• Bühler, M., Karlsson, A. & Österholm, T. (2018). Lågaffektivt bemötande och problematisk skolfrånvaro.
• Ekstrand, Britten (2020). Skolnärvaro-frågan. Vad säger forskningen?
• Fleischer, AV. (2020). Jag vill inte till skolan.
• Friberg, P., Karlberg, M., Sundberg Lax, I. & Palmér, R. (2015). Hemmasittare och vägen tillbaka. Insatser vid långvarig frånvaro.
• Gren Landell, M. (2018). Främja närvaro. Att förebygga frånvaro.
• Klockar, A. & Westman, M. (2020). Med sikte på skolnärvaro.
• Konstenius, V. & Schillaci, M. (2011). Skolfrånvaro: KBT-baserat kartläggnings- och åtgärdsarbete.
• Ljungdahl, T. (2018). En skola att längta till.
• Sjöblom, S. (2018). Myrstig. Att vara förälder till en hemmasittare.
• Sjödin, K. & Gladh, M. (2018). Saknad i skolan. En vägledning för lärare att arbeta tvärprofessionellt med hemmasittare.
• Yllner, N. (2021). Hon kallades hemmasittare.
• Wrangsjö, B. & Åhlund, N. (2021). Borta bra… om hemmasitteri.
• Öhman, A. (2020). Prestationsprinsen. För alla som möter barn och unga som tänker, känner och för annorlunda.

 Podcasts and films, a limited selection

• Radioprogram Documentary on school attendance problems. 
• https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/1490440668/elevhalsopodden/pelle-astrom-problematisk-skolfranvaro
• UR Lärlabbet – Interview with teachers, headmaster, and experts on how to promote school attendance
• https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/1031843296/hjarnpodden-kristina-bahr/105-framja-narvaro-intervju-med-psykolog-malin-gren-landell
• Norrköpings kommun, barn och elevhälsopodden – Från teori om missad undervisning till praktik