For some children, the school day can be filled with obstacles, such as difficulty managing emotions or concentrating, according to officials. Such difficulties can mean the child cannot benefit from teaching or does not even want to go to school, and an outwardly aggressive or disruptive child can make other children experience school as unsafe. Sigtuna municipality has developed a ten-point program aimed at creating a calmer and safer school for students and educators, officials said.
Strengthening cooperation with social services is an important puzzle piece, and the presence of social workers on site will create good conditions for a calmer school environment for all. Since last autumn, six primary and middle schools in Sigtuna municipality can get help from social workers who are on site at the schools and can thus quickly start working to help the child, officials reported. Social workers work proactively together with guardians and school staff and do not let go until the child has a more functioning existence at school, and by the team around the child being able to intervene early, problems can be handled before they become too large.
Now they can work closely and intensively with guardians and school staff for a period until the child can manage the school day again, officials described, calling this preventive work at its best. Six of the municipality's schools—Eddaskolan, Sagaskolan, Centralskolan, Sätunaskolan, Norrbackaskolan, and Tingvallaskolan—have access to support from social workers, officials said. This is a fairly unique way of working for a municipality, and they have found a way to collaborate that works well, with half a year after the start, they are already working with fifteen cases, officials noted.
That the school can raise a need directly to its social worker without first requiring an authority decision means that the resources needed around each child can be deployed faster, officials reported. This summer, the new Social Services Act comes into effect, which means a greater focus on preventive measures, something that Sigtuna municipality is already working with, according to officials. Specific measures in the ten-point program and criteria for selecting schools remain unclear.