The First Teacher Reform, implemented in 2013, was part of a reform package to strengthen the profession of teachers, raise teacher salaries and thereby increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession in Sweden. A first teacher would lead school and subject development and then receive a salary increase. However, the formulationof the reform was unclear which led to a strong skepticism among teachers and damaged its legitimacy. There was also a normative resistance. The purpose of this paper is to understand how normative institutions and organizational structures have influenced the implementation of the reform. The study shows how the first teacher reform collides withthe normative institutions of teachers. The Swedish school's flat organization and the way of looking at development work and collegial cooperation was challenged. This threatened teachers' autonomy, identities, social roles and thus their ontological security. At the same time principals and first teachers stood and still stand between different normative systems where the normative logic differs. When these collide, problems arise during implementation. The conclusion is that, besides making a clearer policy formulation, teachers and principals should be prepared to change normative institutions and the organizational structure of the Swedish school in order for the reform to have an even more positive effect.