What is represented as the ‘problem’ in principals’ accounts of flexible and individualised education?

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.