Discursive Effects of “Quality” Talk During a Quality Audit in Swedish Municipal Adult Education

ABSTRACT

In transnational policy, directives on how to improve “quality” through auditing flourish. However, more research is needed about how these quality audits affect school personnel in local contexts. This paper has scrutinised the discursive effects of how “quality” is construed in school personnel's comments during a quality audit conducted by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate. By drawing on Bacchi's (2009) WPR approach, such constructs were analysed and interrogated. The results indicate that “quality” is construed as an absence of “warning flags”, and thus as compliance with standards. In effect, statements about quality seem to become problem-oriented. Moreover, “quality” is talked about as a responsibility, and in effect the concept becomes invisible. It is also suggested that “quality” is construed as something that both enables and obstructs different kinds of discussion and discernments. It silences what it is possible to say and calls into question the organisation of the adult education system.

KEYWORDS:

• Adult education
• educational policy
• quality
• Swedish Schools Inspectorate
• WPR approach

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Andreas Fejes and Song-ee Ahn from Linköping University as well as the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and valuable comments.

Disclosure Statement

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

Notes

1 As Bacchi (2009) points out, it is not necessary to strictly follow all six of the questions in every analysis, as they overlap and intertwine.