Secure adults-secure children- a municipal competency development program

Children spend a substantial part of their upbringing in school, making it a central arena for promoting wellbeing and mental health. Hence, school staff have a key position to health promotion, identifying pupils who are struggling and supporting those facing difficulties. Among school staff, assistants and skilled workers spend the most time in close proximity to pupils, both during school hours and in after-school programs (Skolefritidsordningen, SFO). Despite this, they are rarely offered dedicated competence development opportunities and are often underutilized as a resource in schools’ overall mental health promotion efforts, even though they frequently work with pupils considered at highest risk for mental health problems.
This paper report on the elaboration, piloting and evaluation of a local competency development program for all staff at SFO in Verdal Municipality, Norway, conducted 2025-2026. The program is framed within the National Programme for Public Health Work in Municipalities (2017–2027) in Trøndelag county. The development program, titled Secure adults – secure children, is aimed to strengthen SFO-staff’s knowledge base, enabling them a shared professional vocabulary and arena to develop their practical competence in recognizing, understanding, interacting with, and supporting vulnerable pupils. By doing so, the program sought to contribute to a supportive social school milieu that fosters emotionally secure pupils’ and reduces stress for pupils and staff.
Theoretically the program is grounded in neurobiological developmental psychology and structured around the chapters of the book “Assistenthåndboka. Trygge voksne skaper tryggere elever!” [The Assistant Handbook. Safe adults create safer pupils!”] by Juveli, Knudsen and Briseid (2023). Approximately 60 assistants participated in four days of joint professional training supplemented with individual readings and reflection tasks, and regular group sessions at their respective schools. The program was delivered collaboratively by staff from the Educational Psychology Service, the municipal psychologist, and pedagogical leaders of the after-school programs.
The program is evaluated in spring 2026 by focus groups interviews with participating SFO-staff. The presentation will report on their experiences of participation and self-reported learning outcomes, as well as providing insight into their self-perceived role in school mental health work. These empirical findings will form the basis for a debate of targeted and sustained competence development programs to support school assistants and skilled workers to perform as significant adults for children’s emotional development.