Skolan som organisation genom gräsrotsbyråkratins ögon : En studie av hur skolan arbetar med problematisk skolfrånvaro ur ett gräsrotsperspektiv / The school as an organization through the eyes of the grassroots bureaucrat : A study of how the school works with problematic school absenteeism from a grassroots perspective

Tahe starting point of this study is to investigate how the school organizationally works as an institution to counteract problematic school absence. The school is a large part of society as well as an institution that shapes the citizens, at the same time as the schools have a mission to promote the individual´s progression and learning. The schools function to benefit society as well individuals with their personal development make the school a complex organization. The school's organization includes many different areas and it’s therefore difficult to examine in this individual study. We have therefore chosen to focus on the school staff´s work with problematic school absence. The theoretical ground this study is based on is called 'street level bureaucracy'. This theory describes the school staff’s labor from within an organization while having direct contact with members of the general public. The Swedish analogy of this term is gräsrotsbyråkrati. The material that will be used consists of existing literature on the subject as well as interviews conducted with school staff in which they provide their experience of how the organization works with students' problematic school absence. Through the school staff’s experience, we can get a deeper insight into schools organizational structures. The study's conclusion is that school staff need to have a greater influence in the organization's management. Furthermore this study concludes that school staff in general have a much higher need to influence the creation of government documents than they currently have. This need for more influence stems from the fact that they themselves have to carry out these policies on a daily basis and therefore have the necessary expertise on the subject.