Browsing by Author "Brander, Anna"

Based on recent studies, the practices related to school absences, such as their prevention, monitoring and intervention, have varied in Finnish elementary schools. By changing the regulations regarding teaching, efforts have been made to unify these practices and emphasize the importance of practices that prevent absenteeism, such as supporting the school engagement of all students. Objectives: The aim of this thesis is to describe, analyze and interpret the support of student engagement and the prevention, monitoring and intervention of school absences in Finnish basic education. The research questions of the thesis are: 1. How do the contents of the operating models of the education organizers correspond to the contents of the framework presented in the Ministry of Education and Culture's Our common school path -handbook? 2. What kind of instructions regarding different systems do the operating models contain? 3. What kind of views do the coordinators have about student engagement, its’ support and the practices related to absences? Methods. Qualitative research was used to examine the education organizers’ operating models related to school absences, as well as the views of the regional coordinators regarding student engagement and school absences. The data consisted of operating models collected from the municipalities' websites (N=11), and individual interviews (N=6), which were carried out as theme interviews. The data analysis was carried out using theory-driven content analysis. Results and conclusions: The contents of the operating models mostly corresponded well to the recommendations of the national framework. However, there were differences in the ways communal monitoring and intervening in absences was described. The models focused on the practices and cooperation of school staff, the behavior of students and cooperation between home and school. The interviewees emphasized consideration of the students’ benefits, schools’ everyday practices, early intervention and cooperation between different actors as well as cooperation at the municipal and regional level. Interviewees also hoped for increases in positive attitudes and understanding regarding the phenomenon and restoration of the meaningfulness of education. Based on the results, attention should be paid to communal practices and efforts should be made to enable cooperation at different levels, as well as creating a common understanding of the phenomena.