ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the inspection of independent schools in Sweden has become a central aspect in trying to govern the unregulated school market in Sweden. Policies and practices of inspecting independent schools owned by the same education company, here function as a case in order to explore, describe and illustrate how increased central state control through school inspection tends to uphold and legitimise the contemporary school market in Sweden. The argument is based on a critical analysis of how the need for changes in the inspection of independent schools in Sweden is framed and represented in policy documents and interviews with officials at the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (SSI). The chapter shows how legitimacy for both marketisation and central state control and governing by inspection is co-produced. While the government is represented as taking action through legislative measures, the government’s introduction of market principles in education can be upheld due to the SSI supposedly ensuring the quality of education in independent schools. New methods of inspecting independent schools, or other contemporary proposed ‘solutions’ to market ‘risks’, do not in any foundational way challenge the principle of school choice itself or trends of increased auditing.
