This study examines how systematic quality work is enacted in the discussions by Municipal Adult Education (MAE) school leaders during a series of educational network meetings. By exploring how MAE school leaders navigate competing demands, this research offers deeper insights into educational leadership within Sweden’s market-oriented, decentralised and fragmented MAE system.

Education is a human right but one that remains elusive for displaced people and refugees affected by crises and emergencies. Against the background of global commitments to education, lifelong learning policies are essential to ensure self-sufficiency and autonomy for displaced people. While the field of Education in Emergencies (EiE) has successfully drawn attention to the educational needs of displaced people, lifelong learning receives comparatively little funding and policy attention. The aim of this study is to contribute to the field of lifelong learning and EiE by critically identifying, scrutinising and rethinking how the concepts of “crisis” and “emergency” are produced in the context of adult learning and education (ALE). By analysing the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s series of Global Reports on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) and drawing on the “What’s the ‘problem’ represented to be” (WPR) approach pioneered by Carol Bacchi, this study examines representations of crisis and emergencies in ALE and the ways in which they contribute to the reproduction of dominant hierarchies and power structures. The analysis highlights the need to rethink the concept of ALE in emergencies and to critically challenge dominant discourses and promote a more equitable and inclusive approach. This article highlights the tensions between how different forms of crisis and emergency are represented and calls for alternative theoretical and epistemological thinking on education in contexts of conflict and displacement.

National policy in Sweden is increasingly emphasising the principal’s responsibility for the quality and development of Municipal Adult Education (MAE). While there is extensive research on principals’ perceptions of their role and work, most of it focuses on principals in primary and secondary schools even though today more students are involved in adult education than attend secondary school. The MAE principle operates under partially different conditions. Adult education is organised differently and places much higher demands on flexibility and individualisation. This study takes a critical approach and addresses the following question: What is represented as the ‘problem’ with flexible and individualised adult education when principals are interviewed by school inspectors as part of a school inspection audit? Drawing on Bacchi’s (2009) critical poststructuralist approach ‘What’s the “problem” represented to be?’, several observations of principals’ interactions with the Swedish School Inspectorate (SSI) during a thematic quality audit have been analysed. The study highlights how policy demands play out in practice and the anticipated, and sometimes unexpected, effects they have on principals, students, and staff.

Kvalitetsarbete sägs bidra till lärande, utveckling och mycket annat som är gott. Mer sällan diskuteras baksidan av sådana processer: negativa effekter på lärande och pedagogik, och att kvalitetsarbetet tynger verksamheten när tid och energi går åt till förenklade framgångsformler, mätbarhet, ansvarsutkrävande, kontroll och granskning. Den här boken är en kritisk uppgörelse med kvalitetsbegreppet och dess användande i svensk vuxenutbildning (Komvux). Den erbjuder också alternativ. Mer specifikt får läsaren tillgång till olika nycklar som ”låser upp” nya förhållningssätt och andra tillvägagångssätt för vuxenutbildningens personal i deras arbete med verksamhetens kvalitet. Det handlar om att kritiskt förstå den nuvarande situationen och kvalitetsregimen, men också om vilka frågor som bör vägleda arbetet och eventuella utvecklingsinsatser framöver. Kvalitet i vuxenutbildning vänder sig till lärare och rektorer som är verksamma inom vuxenutbildningen, men den är även intressant för olika lärarutbildningar och för det statliga rektorsprogrammet.