Summary

Improved student learning, teaching quality and organizational development has been the center of attention within the Swedish educational system for many years (OECD, 2015; Gorard 2010; Seidel & Shavelson 2007;). Numerous improvement initiatives based upon neoliberal ideas exemplified in New Public Management (NPM) have been implemented. Goals and practices are increasingly linked to centrally imposed performance measures often coupled to detailed, centrally imposed national curriculums, policies and processes (Herr, 2015). Digital performance management systems (dPMS) and performance measures often play a key role in this transformation process as the use of them, under certain contextual conditions, will support these new reforms (Herr and Anderson , 2015; Gillies, 2011; Ball, 2001).Through a review of previous research of digitalization of Swedish schools, research of technology-in-use and glimpses into some empirical examples this paper aims to present an alternative framework exploring ‘the darks sides’ of the use of dPMS and performance measures and to investigate how well intended solutions may end up in unintended consequences - and for who. We can call these unintentional social side effects, which due to the interpretation and use of the dPMS’s and performance measures within the educational setting may have unknown and even adverse effects on both individual, organizational and societal levels.