Asiakastiedot ja niiden käyttö sosiaalihuollon ja perusopetuksen yhteistyössä

This article discusses critical points of producing and using client information in the cooperation between social welfare and school authorities and focuses especially on the questions of jurisprudence, social work and basic education. The review is framed with the questions of legislative prerequisites as well as the features of discretionary power of authorities. A vignette, the story of Valtteri, composed from several real life events, formed the data which were analysed by using the method of critical incidents. The analyses revealed five critical points of using information: postulated knowledge; a child’s unidentified knowledge;decisions based on partial knowledge; lacking knowledge, and decisions based on informal knowledge. The results indicate that these critical points might incur a negative circle of decision making. This underlines the importance of becoming aware of the principles of legislation and boldness of using discretionary power when needed.