This project aims at developing better school and local government guidelines to prevent and follow up compulsory school children at risk of dropping out of school through school absence. Targeting the challenges schools meet today with innovative and knowledge-based actions is the main goal in this application. The project will focus on developing new and better guidelines for municipalities and schools within the Nordic countries. A practical guideline for municipalities and schools will support both school administrative systems and school personnel in identifying and treating pupils who have or have started developing problematic school absence. It will also ensure that pupils with different challenges and problems are met with more individualized guidelines and treatment.This project stresses the need for better identification of problems, and treatment focusing on these. A variety of specified measures e.g. child’s social situation, child and parent wellbeing, and coping strategies have been developed and are practised. However, comprehensive documents targeting schools’ guidelines and practises related to school absence are lacking. The project will cover this need and develop a literature summary of school absence related program targeting outcome measures related to school attendance, mental health, and school competence. This will be done by going through the latest research literature and practises in schools today. Targeting educational government directorate and policymakers, school administration, teachers and professional with new knowledge-based guidelines and recommendation are a priority in this project. How municipalities and regions monitor schools and systematize educational and health initiatives, and how school administrations, school personnel and professionals develop integrated plans and guidelines, will be target. The models that will be developed in this project are aimed at supporting schools, teachers and service providers and strengthen their professional skills as well as their current practises. Describing important screening and monitoring tools, describing good practises and documented prevention and treatment approaches will support and contribute to better practises. The project will be administered and organized in three main phases over 36 months: PHASE 1. Develop a comprehensive assessment of school avoidance behaviour from the literature focusing on factors influencing attendance, how to monitor and when to intervene, strategies to improve attendance, and tools to help improve attendance. PHASE 2. Describe new approaches to manage school avoidance, monitor, treat and prevent. PHASE 3. Describe how policymakers, municipalities and schools can implement better systems and guidelines for preventing and treating problematic school absence.Statped has taken the initiative to the project. Statped will be the project leader and coordinate the execution of the activities and assign responsibility to the partners in the project. Each partner will bring the basic knowledge and educational system knowledge of their country into the project. Identifying the need for better systematic approaches, developing new and improved guidelines for municipalities and schools based on scientific knowledge and practical experience within the Nordic countries. The project is set up with local research groups within each country. The group members will communicate with each other and will be responsible for the progress within each country. The project's workplans are also followed up by joint workshops within the aims and objectives of the project.This project is expected to improve the quality and efficiency of educational routines and guidelines related to students' absence within the Nordic countries. The project will fill the gap and give municipalities and schools better tools and guidelines in identifying, approaching and evaluating practise related to school attendance problems. There will be developed and specified a plan to communicate and promote the findings from this project to relevant policymakers and national agency within each participating country and to other EU countries. The outcomes are also relevant for schools’ professionals, practitioners and academics working with problematic school absence. We will promote the outcomes from this project in relevant domains and areas of interest.