To Örebro University

Background: The Swedish school is based on an inclusive principle where teachers’ ability to meet and teach all children and student groups with different social backgrounds and disabilities, other ethnic backgrounds, low and high performance is central. This means, for example, that students in need of additional adaptations, special support or challenges of different kinds receive the support they have statutory rights to (Skollagen 2010: 800, chapter 3), which often involves collaboration with student health skills such as SENCO, school social worker and also psychologist ( SOU 2017: 35). Hjörne and Säljö (2014) point to the difficulties encountered in collaborating on student health issues and students in need of adaptations and support. That is an area that addresses key questions for the school, health care and social services. Different social institutions thus work with student health issues but from different perspectives. It also creates different approaches to student health issues, which can complicate the understanding of different professionals’ skills and knowledge (Hjörne & Säljö, 2014). We therefore see the importance of courses where the students have the possibility to meet, understand and discuss with each other, as a way to create bridges between different professions.

Research question: The purpose of this study is to investigate what kind of knowledge and skills of co-operation future teachers, SENCO and school social workers need in order to qualitatively achieve good results across the professional boundaries with a focus on student health issues?

Method: University students who have participated in cross-disciplinary learning activities and with active schoolteachers; SENCO and school social workers in professional teams of student health, will be interviewed. Experience and knowledge of difficulties and opportunities for collaboration, as a basis for what kind of knowledge about collaboration and action skills the students need as newly educated teachers, SENCO and school social workers. The empirical collection will start in early 2019 and last throughoutthe year.

Results and discussion: The intended outcome addresses questions about what is important to develop in terms of professionalism within the multidimensional field. It is also important to get an overall picture of the students’ experiences and reflections of the academic learning activities found in the education and professional experience and knowledge. This applies to knowledge and action competence both in terms of content and collaboration in student health issues. Experience in working in different types of profession-wide teams such as student health, as well as meeting parents.

We see this as aspects of how to develop collegial interaction and exchange of ideas about the educational activity in the context of students in need of special support. With these educational efforts in the programs, both students and teachers take an active role in the development of students’ career in the context of the multidimensional field, special education and school social work. It identify and problematize ”the gap” and develop opportunities, arenas, for this kind of issues in school’s student health work.