For 25 years, quality work has been highlighted as a policy means to improve equivalence and quality. However, rather than bringing questions of educational quality at the center, earlier research has demonstrated that quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) has become the main objective for education policy (Bergh 2015, Kauko et al 2018). The aim of this presentation is to put the light on a complex educational question by analysing how a Swedish municipality has tried to challenge segregation through education. Empirically, it builds on interviews with local politicians and civil servants who try to navigate between local complexity and national policy expectations on systematic quality work. The result demonstrates that the conflicts that are concealed in the maximized and recontextualized policy language erupt in the local setting, with challenging consequences for its different actors and for the education in question.