All schools need to provide every single child with quality education, and school attendance problems have been described as a serious challenge that needs to be counteracted and prevented (Thornton, Darmody, & McCoy, 2013). Swedish schools have been famous for their inclusive character. During recent decades, however, students have not performed as well as earlier in international tests like PISA (OECD, 2013). While Swedish schools were earlier known for their small differences between students from high or low socioeconomic strata (SES), social differences are now rising (Karlsson & Oskarsson, 2018). The inclusive character of schools has diminished since the 1990s (Vislie, 2003). A report by the Swedish government shed light on school non-attendance, and its risk of no longer being included into the classroom environment as a phenomenon that has received little attention in Sweden (SOU 2016:94). Both theoretically informed and empirically grounded studies on school attendance are rare in the Swedish context and on the background on this research desideratum, we planned the here introduced study. We know little about how practical work with school absence is conducted in Sweden (Gren Landell et al. 2015; Gren Landell, 2018), and studies with child perspectives on school attendance are very rare (Keppens & Spryt, 2017). By studying and comparing cases of how school attendance is handled in the various contexts, the study wants to provide a better understanding of different ways of looking at problems and solutions regarding school attendance. This presentation contributes results from the case studies in three Swedish municipalities. It presents an analysis of the support systems from the perspective of professionals and students. The presentation analyses data from individual interviews with school leaders as well as focus group interviews with teachers and student health professionals in and around school. Interviews with students focus on their perspective on support they have received or would have hoped for. In the presentation we investigate questions like: How are support systems structured and practiced? How are problems and solutions formulated in policies and by professionals, and in support systems? What are teachers’ and other professionals’ experiences of and perspectives on existing support systems and preventive strategies for school absenteeism? And finally: What is the students’ perspective on support systems and preventive work in schools?

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