Authorizing or auditing – national tests as governing tool

Abstract

NPM, particularly in the form of output evaluations, have had a large impact on Swedish educational reforms over the past decades. This article focuses on the governing of schools and the professional status of teachers by examining how teachers have experienced the new national tests, introduced in compulsory schools in 2014 in social study subjects. Two ideal types of governing, authorizing and auditing, provide the theoretical framework. The empirical material consists of focus group interviews. The results expose a tension in teacher experience. On the one hand, the teachers feel validated by the tests; on the other, they oppose the questioning of their profession that the tests imply. Trust is a key factor at play. The current way Swedish schools are governed signals a distrust in teachers. At the same time, the teachers display a significant level of trust in the state, combined with a limited professional confidence. This reinforces the status of teaching as a semi-profession.