This article contributes to understanding school attendance during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany and Sweden. Sweden presents a unique European case, as compulsory schools largely remained open with only brief closures, while Germany, opted for extended school closures. This study explores how changes in lower secondary students’ attendance – and schools’ efforts to support attendance – can be understood in relation to each country’s education and welfare systems, and their policy decisions during the pandemic. Focus-group interviews were conducted with school personnel in both countries and analysed by an international research team. The findings suggest that the pandemic and the measures implemented in schools affected students’ opportunities, challenges and willingness to attend school regularly. The described experiences highlighted how consequences varied across student groups, including those in different school grades, with differing access to digital tools, special educational needs (SEN) or previous school attendance problems (SAPs).

Introduction: School attendance problems (SAPs) affect both the education and development of young learners. There is a need to better understand what supports are needed to overcome and prevent SAPs from students’ perspectives. The aim of the current study is to explore students’ perspectives on what challenges they faced, and what they perceived as helpful in overcoming attendance challenges on their pathways towards completing their education.Method: We conducted interviews with students (n = 9) in a local comprehensive school (Stadtteilschule) in the city-state Hamburg in Germany. Students were in their final year before obtaining a certificate that qualifies them for possible admission to post-secondary education. Data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.Results: Findings show that students experienced complex challenges to school attendance that were associated with emotional distress, negative school experiences, and reduced well-being. Our findings point to common protective mechanisms in students’ perceptions of what helped them overcome SAPs. The key drivers of school attendance are located within students and their social contexts, including personal resilience, supportive relationships at school, and the social environment.Discussion: Based on students’ views, we present a model that illustrates the interconnectedness of perceived challenges and supports in the function of risk and protective factors moving across ecological systems in the development of SAPs. We highlight how these areas can guide prevention and intervention to support students in successfully completing their education and transitioning into multiple post-secondary pathways.

Föreläsaren: Vad är det viktigaste man som lärare bör tänka på när man skriver åtgärdsprogram för elever i behov av särskilt stöd?Auditoriet (i gemensam kör): Att uppmärksamma elevens svårigheter på såväl individ- som grupp- och organisationsnivå!Föreläsaren: Bra! Men varför gör ni inte det då?Auditoriet: (Tystnad)Ovanstående situation uppstod under en föreläsning om åtgärdsprogram och särskilt stöd som jag höll på en konferens för lärare och specialpedagoger. Sedan dess har jag fortsatt att upprepa den provokativa frågan i föreläsningar som jag hållit i olika sammanhang angående åtgärdsprogram och stödinsatser för elever i behov av särskilt stöd i skolan. Kanske undrar du som läsare varför jag envisas med att medvetet provocera på detta sätt. Syftet med detta kapitel är att diskutera just detta genom att problematisera arbetet med åtgärdsprogram för elever i behov av särskilt stöd och lyfta fram betydelsen av perspektiv och kritisk analys i detta arbete. Kapitlet är uppdelat i två delar, där den första delen problematiserar olika steg i processen att upprätta åtgärdsprogram, medan den andra delen visar, genom konkreta exempel, betydelsen av miljö och sammanhang i åtgärdsprogrammens skrivningar för att ge en rättvisande bild av eleven.

This article explores which students–with regard to gender, socio-economic background and migration background–skip school in Germany, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK) according to PISA data. Students who skip school are observed in many countries, but there is not much systematic research that studies this across countries. Comparable data is to a large extent missing. PISA data offers an opportunity to use comparable data. In PISA, students were asked in 2018, 2015 and 2012 whether they had skipped school a whole day in the last two weeks prior to their completion of the PISA student questionnaire. Patterns of how absence relates to sociodemographic factors vary in countries and school systems. In the comparison between the four countries the UK stands out as having a higher percentage of students who have reported that they have skipped school than in the other countries. This does not seem to be related to any specific group of students. Japan also stands out with a lower percentage of students who have reported that they have skipped school. According to PISA data, skipping school is more related to socio-economic background than any other of the variables studied. The socio-economic background seems to be related to skipping school in all three PISA studies in Sweden and the UK. Gender seems not to be an important factor in the four countries. In Sweden and Germany there is a lower percentage of non-immigrant students who report that they have skipped school than first-and second-generation immigrant students. In the UK the figures are more ambiguous. When the percentages of students skipping school are compared over time and in the countries, it is difficult to find any trends, but the data only covered three measurements during a period of six years, which may be too short a time span to see trends.

Purpose: To examine how individuals treated for head and neck cancer perceive life one year after the end of treatment and how they experience supportive efforts from health care.Methods: A semi-structured intervies study of 21 patients was performed one year after the end of treatment. The patients gave their views concerning physical, psychological, and return-to-work issues, and their experiences concerning rehabilitative efforts from health care and particularly the contact nurse were captured. A thematic analysis was conducted.Results: One year after treatment the patients were still suffering from side effects and from fear of recurrence, but they strived to live as they did before the cancer diagnosis, such as having returned to work and resuming leisure activities. Moreover, the rehabilitative efforts from health care had ended. Having access to a contact nurse, also known as a clinical nurse specialist, was positive, however, the participants lacked regular long-term follow-ups with the contact nurse regarding rehabilitation needs. Improvement possibilities were seen in clarifying the role of the contact nurse and that the contact nurse should show engagement and make the initial contact with the patients.Conclusion: Desptite the sequelae from treatment, the patients strived to live as before their diagnosis. By regular, engaged, and long-term follow-ups by the contact nurse, remaining needs may be uncovered, and appropiate individualized support and rehabilitation can be offered.