In 2015, the Swedish National Agency for Education (SNAE) was commissioned by the Government to start Co-operation for the Best School possible (CBS) "in order to raise the knowledge results and increase the equivalence within and between schools" (Ministry of Education, U2015 / 3357 / S, p. 1. my translation).
The study focuses on the perception of co-operation between the Swedish National Agency for Education and local municipal school actors, seen from the municipal actors’ perspective, within the context of the state-initiated school improvement initiative, CBS. Co-operation between different levels in the school system is a neglected but essential aspect to analyze in a decentralized system such as Sweden’s, a system where there also are signs of re-centralization. Empirically, the study is based on interviews made with local actors (headteachers, local educational authorities and local politicians) in a small municipality that was in the final stages of the three-year initiative CBS. Theoretically the analysis has been guided by the concepts of governance and Foucault’s concept governmentality.