"Jeg føler mig som en firkant blandt cirkler": skolefravær som situeret pædagogisk fænomen

School absenteeism is an escalating global concern (Gren-Landell, 2021; Knage & Kousholt, 2023), posing significant challenges also for the Danish educational system (VIVE, 2020; Børns Vilkår, 2020). Various conceptualizations of this phenomenon attribute explanations to individual students, their families, or the school culture they attend. However, contemporary research increasingly recognizes the complex interplay of contributing factors, advocating for an ecological approach to intervention and prevention (e.g., Kearney, 2021). This dissertation explores school absences through student perspectives on barriers and facilitators for school belonging (Hansen, 2019) within classroom communities and learning environments. Given the focus on school settings, I adopt the term School Attendance Problems (SAPs) (Gentle-Genitty et al., 2020), arguing that this terminology supports a situated understanding of the phenomenon (Matthiesen et al., 2024; Lave & Wenger, 2012). The project comprises three sub-studies