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This article presents findings from a survey conducted on all school counsellors in Sweden. The focus of the article is on Swedish school counsellors’ demographics, professional practice, educational background, working life history and professional autonomy. The survey was web-based and contained 91 questions of both quantitative and qualitative nature. The results show that Swedish school counsellors are predominantly experienced female social workers with academic education in social work and several years’ experience of social work in areas other than school. Employment as a school counsellor is not an entry-level job. The professional practice of Swedish school counsellors predominately focus on remedial work with individual students. Their professional practice focus to a lesser extent on preventive and health promoting work despite the prominent position that preventive and health promoting work are given in the Swedish school act and in the national guidelines. The professional focus of Swedish school counsellors raises questions whether the emphasis on individual remedial work is to be interpreted as a lack of organizational awareness and resources, or if it is an expression of a professional ‘heritage’ from school counsellors prior experience of professional social work within other welfare areas were remedial work are custom. We argue that the focus on remedial work makes it valid to describe the character of Swedish school counsellors’ professional practice as a reflection of Swedish social services in general.

Welfare technology (WT) has been identified as a potential solution for challenges within eldercare, with policymakers emphasising its capacity to reduce reliance on care staff. Policy discussions surrounding WT also highlight other anticipated benefits, such as mitigating loneliness, facilitating increased social interaction between caregivers and care recipients, and promoting greater independence for the latter. These expectations are permeated by a techno-optimism. Needing care means being vulnerable, and care builds on relationship and interdependence. How older adults think about WT and its consequences for social aspects of care is important for a successful implementation. The individual perspective is relatively unknown. This study aims to investigate how potential users perceive WT and its consequences for feelings of loneliness, opportunities for social interaction in care settings, and levels of independence. To accomplish this, a questionnaire was administered to approximately 5000 individuals between the ages of 65 and 90 residing in Västerbotten. The findings suggest that the techno-optimism visible at the national level is not widely shared by older adults. A majority expressed skepticism regarding the potential of WT to positively influence social aspects of care, and most of the respondents believe that WT will contribute to increased feelings of loneliness. Furthermore, a majority did not perceive a need for various technologies in eldercare and expressed a preference for care provided by human caregivers rather than technology-based alternatives. These attitudes where not effected by age. The group of 65-year-olds that have grown up with technology and are more digital were as skeptical towards WT as the older age groups. We interpret these results to indicate that the inherent relational nature of care can make it unsuitable for direct replacement with technology. An increased expected frailty and vulnerability that follows from needing to receive care may mean that technology is an inappropriate solution.

This paper presents some results from a unique survey conducted on all school counselorsin Sweden. More precisely, the focus of this paper is on Swedish school counselors'professional practice, educational background and working life history. By professionalpractice we mean the concrete activities that school counselors engage in in their workand the scope of these activities. Organizational frameworks and work managementissues are also studied.The survey was web-based (online) and contained 91 questions of both quantitative andqualitative nature. This paper concerns only a limited part of the data material generatedby the survey.Data analyzes used in the script are mainly statistical descriptions.The results of the analyzes show that Swedish school counselors are predominantlyexperienced social workers with academic education in social work and several years'experience of social work in areas other than school. Employment as a school counseloris rather the highlight of a career as a social worker than the beginning of such a career.

Syftet är att utifrån en nationellt distribuerad enkät till yrkesverksamma skolkuratorer i Sverige studera skolkuratorers professionella praktik, utbildnings- och yrkesbakgrund samt positionera skolsocialt arbete i Sverige i ett internationellt perspektiv av sociala insatser inom skolans område. Socialt arbete i skolan har en lång tradition både nationellt och internationellt. I Sverige är det sedan 2010 lag på att samtliga skolor i Sverige ska ha tillgång till främjande, förbyggande och åtgärdande psykosociala insatser i syfte att ge elever goda förutsättningar att uppnå de av skolan uppsatta kunskapsmålen. Lagen och de styrdokument som ska vara vägledande för skolkuratorernas kompetens och professionella praktik är emellertid otydliga. I denna artikel reser vi frågan om denna avsaknad av tydliga riktlinjer har kommit att innebära variationer i skolkuratorernas professionella praktik, utbildnings- och yrkesbakgrund.

Införandet av en samlad elevhälsa har medfört att psykosocialt arbete inom skolan givits en tydligare position i skolornas elevhälsoarbete. Trots detta vittnar tidigare studier om att skolkuratorer uppfattar sitt professionella uppdrag och sina arbetsuppgifter som otydliga. Tidigare forskning har fokuserat på skolkuratorers egen beskrivning av sitt professionella uppdrag och arbetsuppgifter. Syftet med denna artikel är att studera skolhuvudmäns beskrivning av skolkuratorers uppdrag, arbetsuppgifter, organisation samt kvalifikationer och färdigheter. Studiens empiriska material utgörs av samtliga platsannonser som publicerades hos Arbetsförmedlingen under 2017 där skolhuvudmän sökte efter skolkuratorer. I studien användes kvalitativ innehållsanalys med en tematisk ansats. Resultatet visar att skolhuvudmännen i platsannonserna beskriver en tydlig skolkurativ jurisdiktion men att denna är under- eller sidoordnad den pedagogiska verksamhetens mål, organisation och styrning.

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.

The chapter by Minna Kivipelto, Merita Jokela, Sanna Blomgren and Marek Perlinski asks how the lives and welfare of the most vulnerable people are managed by the state at different administrative levels and in cooperation with other agencies. The chapter examines professional social work in Finland by means of the domain theory. Although examples are derived from the Finnish social welfare agencies and analysed with a theory originally developed to understand Swedish social welfare services, the analysis is contextualized, and the results are evaluated more generally in the Nordic setting. Despite their shared values and common traits, Sweden and Finland also display significant differences, for instance, regarding the professional status of social work, as well as differences in tasks and governance. The aim of this study is to help understand social sustainability as the security and welfare of all citizens from a relational perspective.