The political motives for reinstating national school inspection in 2003 and reinforcing it through the establishment of the Swedish School Inspectoratein 2008 stressed the necessity of sufficient state involvement in order to retain and ensure nationwide educational quality and equivalence. Since then, additional political efforts have been made to intensify and exercise national state control over education. On July 1, 2011, the Education Act gave the agency enhanced legal support. The aim of this study was to describe and analyze a sample of school leaders' stories of the regular inspection that have been conducted in their schools since the legal changes came into force. School leaders of 20 compulsory schools were interviewed. Theinterviews were analyzed and the results were presented in eight themes. In the following analysis, change mechanisms that had been initiated in the schools during the inspection process were examined through a theoretical framework of evaluation influence. The results from the second analys is also illustrated conceivable forms of pathways that link inspection processes to inspection outcomes. Finally, the empirical findings were discussed in terms of constitutive effects and education governance. The study was a part of the research project "Governing by inspection. School inspection and education governance in Sweden, England and Scotland".

Social Investments (SI) have become a significant policy tool during the 2010s for developing and implementing social policy. This study explores how the SI framework, based on social innovation, evidence-based policy and practice, and impact evaluation, affects professionals when it is implemented and evaluated.  The empirical material of the study was based on semi-structured interviews with professionals operating in the City of Stockholm. The author applied practical philosophy, relational sociology, and evaluation theory to answer four phronetic social science research questions focusing on phronesis (practical wisdom). SI comes with constitutive effects that affect the praxis of professionals. It is accompanied by different logics that can both enable or restrict common understanding between economists or social advocates, these differ between professional groups. It creates new content to strive for to create measurable outcomes, which can often lead to conflicts of power. Whether it is delivering outcomes within a certain set of time, or following evidence-based policy and practice, different chains of accountability put a lot of pressure to not do wrong, rather than do right.   The design and implementation of the SI fund in the City of Stockholm have had problems that need addressing. Thus, this study concludes with a warning that any attempts to fix these problems must refrain to create an evaluation machine that risks alienating professionals’ relationship with their work.