School Absence : - A qualitative study of the teachers' views of schoolabsence

Abstract: Absence from school is a social phenomenon that not only affects the individual's personal quality of life but foremost can be seen as social problems related to the educational system as well as to other social costs (social exclusion, public health, criminality etc). The purpose of this essay is therefore to contribute to a better understanding of school absenteeism among Swedish upper secondary students’ and assess how the current strategies of addressing school absenteeism could be improved, especially facing recent circumstances related to eg.: Covid 19. The essay tries to achieve that by interviewing Swedish teachers, who are trying to tackle the problem on an everyday basis and whose voices seem to be absent from the research related to school absenteeism. The research part of the presented essay is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews and the project-related data will be analyzed through thematic analysis and inspirations drawn on Merton’s strain theory. The study's conclusion reports how the teachers' way of working is consistent with previous research through quick action after locating patterns in absenteeism and building better relationships between the school and the students’. The novelty of the presented study, which distinguishes it from the previous research, seems to be sealed in clearly formulated by respondents, something the teachers problematize through a so-called culture of absence. The discussion reveals deficient working methods through the prevailing secrecy and new working methods that would advocate faster investigations and better dialogue with social services and parents.