Although school absenteeism is often described as a growing problem, it has long posed challenges for educators. This article explores how unwanted school absenteeism was problematised in Sweden between 1945 and 1975. Drawing on archived student records from the school health service concerning students with perceived problematic absenteeism, and published texts by experts such as psychiatrists, psychologists, and teachers, the study examines how the issue was defined, what explanations were offered, what interventions were proposed, and which experts were involved. The analysis uses the concept of psychoculture, referring to ways of thinking shaped by psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis. The article shows how interpretations of absenteeism were historically contingent, influenced by institutional structures, professional agendas, and available methods of interventions.

Det råder delade meningar om digitaliseringen och AI:s allt större utrymme iskolan. Inte sällan leder det till en tämligen polariserad debatt där mänskligavärden ställs mot ekonomiska. I föreliggande artikel problematiseras detta utrymme med utgångspunkt i specialpedagogik, kopplat till tre övergripande teman:digitalisering, AI och maskininlärning och lärarrollen. De frågor som artikeln merspecifikt kretsar kring är: Vilka problem finns det med externa aktörer och enökad digitalisering inom det specialpedagogiska fältet? Vad händer med denspecialpedagogiska professionen i en skola som alltmer präglas av AI? Det är enexplorativ studie som tar sin utgångspunkt i ett Foucault-inspirerat angreppssättför att analysera de konsekvenser som AIed har inom utbildningsområdet.Materialet består av intervjuer, tidningsartiklar, inslag från SvT och företagenshemsidor och rapporter. Resultaten pekar mot att EdTech-industrin får konsekvenser för lärarrollen, inte minst i samband med den specialpedagogiskaprofessionen. I många avseenden är det oklart vem – skolan, forskningen ellerföretagen – som styr vad som händer på såväl policynivå som i det individuellaklassrummet och för den enskilda individen. Det väcker i sin tur en rad frågorkring AI och etik.

In the context of compulsory schooling in Sweden, this article discusses the shift from what was often called "the Tattare problem" to, later, "the Gypsy question." The article frames the discussion with reference to Michel Foucault and his concepts of discipline power and pastoral power. The central question addressed is how the schools dealt with students from these groups. Children, especially their care and handling, were an important focus of welfare politics in Sweden. This meant that childhood was a significant field of governance, which became obvious in schools' work with "Tattare" and "Gypsy" children. This article highlights how the tone towards these groups changed, especially in the 1940s. Over time, these students were seen as more malleable by institutions and their agents, which exerted pastoral power by guiding and leading them in order to shape the minds of these future citizens.

In this article, we follow the trails of 20th-century psychologist Henry Herbert Goddard’s influential study of the Kallikak family. Goddard’s study is treated as a scientific story with two interlocking dimensions: One is the actual story of the Kallikak family, with literary elements such as setting, plot, and characters. The other dimension is the broader eugenic discourse, a powerful scientific narrative that calls for action in relation to society and the population. The purpose of the article is twofold. Firstly, to analyze the forming and articulations of this story and to explore some of the consequences for governing the population that it has made possible. Secondly, to explore some aspects of what a Foucauldian analytics of government can contribute with in relation to Goddard’s work and the eugenic discourse from the early 20th century to today.

Research topic/aim

In the School Inspectorate's report "Extensive invalid absences" from 2016, an increase in students' invalid scattered absences as well as morelengthy absences are highlighted. The latter, the cases that the school or social services cannot handle, usually end up at Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (BUP). According to Ek (2018), it often leads to diagnosis and to many students being treated with drugs. There is thus a risk – or chance depending on how one chooses to interpret the absence – that the psychiatric perspective tends to become the dominant explanatory model.

Theoretical framework

Psycho-culture is placed at the theoretical center of this study. Inspired by Pietikäinen’s (2007) use of the term to designate the spread ofpsychodynamic thinking, we will use it as a more general term that signifies a way of thinking formed by language and ideas coming frompsychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

Methodological design

 School’s mental health service are intended to help students to manage schooling, but they also fill a function of helping schools and teachers to manage problematic situations connected to students. However, previous research has shown that what is deemed as problematic in schools is historically contingent and related to institutional arrangements and ideals, and also changes over time (Axelsson 2020; Blythe Doroshow 2019;Larsson 2017; Stewart 2016; Hendrick 2003). Technologies of dealing with students with ascribed mental health problems have been created anddeveloped under certain historical circumstances but once institutionalized they might for a long time influence not only practice, but also howstudents and problems are being understood (Rose 1996).

Expected conclusions/findings There are, and have been, varying motives for students to not attending the school's compulsory education. But also the explanations for students' absence have varied over time – everything from parents need for childrens’ labour at home to school fatigue, environmental damage, or that theyrather want to work and neurotic school refusal have come to the fore. Clearly, school absence has since long been a difficult question for school authorities to handle.

Relevance to Nordic educational research

In this paper, we present a few illustrative examples from an empirical material from the 1950s and 1960s, consisting of acts over students who were considered to have a problematic absence. What type of absence is considered as truancy? What kinds of intervention are taken, pedagogical, psychological, social, medical? What professions are being engaged in these cases? And what changes over time can be seen? By answering these questions, we aim to critically examine the emerging influence of a psychiatric perspective when children and young people do not come to school.