Pupil welfare in Finnish schools: communal or falling apart?

The need for pupil welfare has increased in schools as has the need to renew the traditional teacher's work. The purpose of this article is to find out how committed the teachers are to pupil welfare work and how the school organisation supports pupil welfare work structurally and practically. The original research was carried out in northern Finland which is scarcely populated and the long distances already pose a challenge to welfare services in general. The research was qualitative and based on a phenomenographic approach. The research data consist of 15 interviews among comprehensive school teachers in the area of northern Finland. According to the research results, an overall model that defines the pupil welfare work was created. Based on the model, pupil welfare at school can be developed both in teacher education and teachers' in-service education as well as in the supervision of work.