Teachers’ work in the Swedish School Inspectorate’s quality audits in a time of accountability

This article explores how the teacher is positioned and legitimised in the Swedish Schools Inspectorate’squality audit reports. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, two main subject positions are identified:activity-based subject positions where the teacher is constructed as an active actor, and competence- and responsibility-based subject positions where the teacher is constructed both as important for the students’results, and as an individual in need of guidance. The teacher is positioned as a professional with limited competence. The reports show ambivalence regarding teachers’position, which could be considered as delegitimising the teaching profession.