Separate counselling services in Norwegian upper secondary schools. A possibility for a collective holistic approach?

Guidance counsellors hold an important role in youth’s educational and vocational choices, well-being and future careers. Central Norwegian policy documents recommend dividing counselling practices in schools into two functions: (1) career guidance and (2) educational welfare guidance. Policy documents also promote a holistic view of the pupil and the value of safeguarding the pupils’ best interest. This study explores how counsellors interpret these potentially conflicting recommendations for counselling practice. Our findings indicate that counsellors act as street-level bureaucrats and interpret the recommendations in relation to professional values and local contexts. Our analysis reveals three perspectives on how separate forms of counselling can be practised. The first view suggests an integrated, holistic approach. The second suggests a collective holistic approach. The third view indicates a reductionistic approach to career guidance. Counsellors appear to base their views on occupational professionalism, with the ideal of guarding the pupils’ best interest at its centre. Hence, the different understandings of separate counselling services, a holistic approach and of what is in the pupils’ best interest appear significant for implementing the policy recommendations in schools.publishedVersio

“No one saw us, and no one did anything” – young women with a history in out-of-home care narrate management of (in)visibility and intersecting identities

Dominating narratives about young women in out-of-home care typically depict them as ‘troublemakers’, ‘victims’ or ‘damaged’. Such narratives undermine the importance of understanding how these young women manage difficult life circumstances and intersecting identities. This paper explores how young women with a history in out-of-home care manage their personal stories and identities. By applying an intersectional perspective, we explore the complexity of these young women’s identities. This study draws data from eight narrative interviews with five young women with challenging personal stories. A feminist listening guide was adopted for the analysis. Our analysis identified the management of intersecting identities, (in)visibility and agency in participants’ stories. Based on the analysis, we recommend an intersectional perspective in social work practice.publishedVersio

Managing role expectations and emotions in encounters with extremism: Norwegian social workers’ experiences

To prevent radicalisation and violent extremism, many European countries have adopted a multiagency approach, consisting of both police, teachers and social workers. Such strategies have caused concern for a securitization of social policy and stigmatization of vulnerable groups. This study aims at gaining insight into how Norwegian social workers involved in prevention work against violent extremism experience and manage role conflicts and emotions during interaction with their clients. This article presents findings from 17 individual and two focus group interviews which indicate that social workers experience emotional strain caused by role conflicts and emotional dissonance within a securitized field of social work. To handle these challenges, social workers apply a dynamic combination of surface and deep acting strategies, at both the reactive and proactive level, such as ‘Keeping a brave face’, ‘Character acting’ and ‘Adopting the client’s perspective’. Our findings contribute to expanding both the empirical and conceptual understanding of emotion management at work, and provides a novel insight into how prevention work against violent extremism is perceived by social workers. Also, in a field influenced by security rhetoric, our study gives encouraging new knowledge about how social workers can resist falling into oppressive and controlling practices by seeking to engage with and understand their clients’ human side, and relate this to their own lives.publishedVersio

Separate counselling services in Norwegian upper secondary schools. A possibility for a collective holistic approach?

Guidance counsellors hold an important role in youth’s educational and vocational choices, well-being and future careers. Central Norwegian policy documents recommend dividing counselling practices in schools into two functions: (1) career guidance and (2) educational welfare guidance. Policy documents also promote a holistic view of the pupil and the value of safeguarding the pupils’ best interest. This study explores how counsellors interpret these potentially conflicting recommendations for counselling practice. Our findings indicate that counsellors act as street-level bureaucrats and interpret the recommendations in relation to professional values and local contexts. Our analysis reveals three perspectives on how separate forms of counselling can be practised. The first view suggests an integrated, holistic approach. The second suggests a collective holistic approach. The third view indicates a reductionistic approach to career guidance. Counsellors appear to base their views on occupational professionalism, with the ideal of guarding the pupils’ best interest at its centre. Hence, the different understandings of separate counselling services, a holistic approach and of what is in the pupils’ best interest appear significant for implementing the policy recommendations in schools

"Maybe I can go back to school in a few weeks." Childrens expereinces of everyday life during COVID-19 lockdown in Norway

This study explores everyday life from the perspective of children during school lockdown in Norway. The outbreak of Covid-19 greatly impacts societies on all levels. Studies have revealed a drastic change in children’s routines through home-schooling and reduced access to physical activities, as well as increase in contact with parents with subsequent potential friction or positive interactions. Children’s own perspective of their experiences during Covid-19 restrictions, nevertheless, appear to be scarce. This study provides a unique insight into ten children’s experiences through examination of their diary entries during lockdown. Our theoretical approach is based Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of child development, and protective factors and risk factors in child development. Our findings indicate that children’s everyday life experiences during Covid-19 lockdown can be sorted into three different arenas: The home and family life, The school and learning activities, and The social and digital interaction with friends. These three arenas represent important micro-systems in the children’s lives. However, the shutting down of school and society has disrupted the overall ecological systems surrounding the children, increasing the potential weight of risk factors such as loneliness and stress. All arenas and system levels moved inside the children’s primary micro-arena; their homes and family life. Further, all forms of social interaction, both at school, among friends and in family life seem to depend on digital platforms, as the children respond to the new situation by using digital meeting places. Utilizing Bronfenbrenner’s systematic approach, the digital arena appears to manifest a new khrono-system in the children’s lives. The digital screens being what binds all eco-systems together. An important question for further studies is what consequences this has for the future development of childhood, and how do the children cope with this kind of disruption of their everyday lives.publishedVersio