Evidence-Based Governing? Educational Research in the Service of the Swedish Schools Inspectorate

ABSTRACT

The rise in the use of scientific evidence as a basis for educational policymaking has been a noticeable feature globally. In this study, we describe and discuss how educational research is used to make policy and governing evidence-based. To illustrate this, we use the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (SSI) as a case and focus on two of the processes it performs: regular supervision and quality audit. We present interviews with inspection personnel and researchers involved in these processes along with observations and documents. Our case description shows that despite the SSI’s efforts to base its work on knowledge (evidence) gained through educational research, it also had to use both embodied and enacted forms of knowledge. Research knowledge was chosen and redrafted to form a unified picture of how to act in educational practice, thus giving the work of school inspection a governing power that legitimises and sustains particular national policies.

KEYWORDS:

• Case-study
• educational research
• evidence-based policy
• governing
• school inspection

Acknowledgements

We like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This information is transcribed interviews with principals, teachers, representatives for governing bodies and inspectors involved in inspection processes at 13 schools (approx. 70 individuals); 10 transcribed interviews with the SSI head management group including juridical experts; 10 transcribed interviews with national policy makers; 20 interviews with nationally randomly selected principals; observations from 13 inspection processes including a handful internal meetings at the SSI; and an extensive number of documents from the schools and the SSI.

2 The NAE previously carried out the SSI's tasks. For a comprehensive analysis of the political motives for separating the supervisory function from the NAE and forming the SSI as a new agency under the government in 2008, see Rönnberg (2014).

3 Englund and Quennerstedt (2008).

4 Universities and university colleges have a different supervisory authority. Thus, they are not included in the SSI’s commission.

5 Starting on July 1, 2011, the SSI is allowed to use sanctions, such as fines, if governing bodies do not comply with their decisions (SFS, 2010:800).

6 We wish to emphasise that our conclusions do not imply that the SSI has intentionally misrepresented this kind of research and evidence for successful schools.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council under grant [2009-5770]; The Swedish Research Council under grant (2007-3579); Umeå University under grant [223-514-099]; MidSweden University, Faculty of Humanities; and Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences.