Student health in primary school

All primary schools in Malmö have a local inter-professional student health team, where each profession has a special responsibility to contribute with its specific expertise and cooperate with other student health professions, both within and outside school.

The student health services in the City of Malmö´s primary schools are LGBTQI certified by RFSL.

Counsellor

The counsellor is committed to ensuring that all students are offered the same opportunities to achieve the learning objectives. The counsellor cooperates and collaborates with students, guardians, school staff and, if necessary, other authorities, services or associations regarding the student's need for help and support.

The counsellor also provides support for the educational work and overall planning of the student health services´ inter-professional activities. Issues relating to the school's values and equal treatment efforts, as well as the learning, health, environment, well-being and development of the student are also important to the counsellor.

Psychologist

The school psychologist contributes with psychological expertise and knowledge about the health, learning and development of students. This is done through consultation, guidance and training for staff and the carrying out of evaluations, including developmental assessments of individual students.

The psychological assessment helps the student and the school to better understand the student’s abilities, skills and need for adjustment in the learning environment and setting of requirements. The school psychologist works in a health-promoting and preventive way in the learning environment for all students. The psychologist is also part of the school's emergency preparedness system.

School nurse and school doctor

The school nurse offers health visits to all students, including health talks, and carries out vaccinations according to the Swedish vaccination programme. The health visit offered in preschool and grades 4 through 8 involves growth monitoring as well as a vision assessment, hearing assessment and spine
evaluation, if necessary. The school nurse talks to students about their health, school situation and lifestyle.

The school doctor meets with students for medical assessments and brings medical expertise to the student health system. The school nurse and school doctor engage in health promotion and prevention. If the student has symptoms of illness, they are referred to a health centre.

Special educators and special needs teachers

The special educator and special needs teacher provide in-depth pedagogical knowledge about learning in schools and the overall planning of the work done by student health services. They work closely with teachers to identify and remove barriers to learning; plan and implement remedial activities; and train students in strategies for learning and planning. Special educators and special needs teachers often play a central role in identifying students' needs for special support and
establishing remedial programmes.

School speech therapists

The speech therapist has a complementary professional role in the school’s student health team, which the school principal can choose to employ. For this reason, not all schools have their own school speech therapist. The school speech therapist’s task is to provide speech and language therapy expertise to support the educational work and overall planning of student health care.

Study and career advisors

Study and career advisors provide support in the educational work and overall planning of the work carried out by the student health services. They enable students to make informed academic and career choices and may provide motivational talks to strengthen the students' confidence in their own ability to complete their studies. Study and career advisors also play an important role in the school's PRAO (work experience programme) activities.

To get in touch with a school nurse or counsellors/advisors at a municipal school, please see the contact details on their respective websites.