Interprofessional collaboration in schools: views of professionals in teaching, student health and social work

In response to growing concerns surrounding children’s health and well-being, interprofessional collaboration across different sectors has become an important form of support for school-aged children. This study examined how professionals in teaching, student health, and social work in Finland describe their involvement in interprofessional collaboration and their perceived facilitators and barriers to it. Interview data from 28 professionals were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings showed different forms of collaborative involvement: 1) the teachers saw themselves as information providers to student health, social work and home; 2) the student health professionals (SHPs) saw themselves as coordinators of communication between school, social work, and home; and 3) the social work professionals (SWPs) saw themselves as promoters of service processes between school, home and social work. Furthermore, the teachers and SHPs perceived interprofessional collaboration within the school as mixed, identifying both facilitators and barriers to their collaborative involvement. The three professional groups viewed school-social work collaboration differently, the SWPs emphasising facilitators to their involvement, while the teachers and SHPs emphasised barriers, indicating somewhat asymmetrical collaboration. To reduce the barriers to collaboration, it would be important to deepen the interaction between the different parties.