This paper addresses how the injunction decisions of the SwedishSchools Inspectorate (SSI) align with the legal documents thatoutline preschool principals’ accountability for systematic qualitywork. Empirically, it is based on 474 injunction decisions issued bythe SSI between 2008 and 2023, five legal documents regulatingpreschools, three educational policies and one government bill.The results reveal that foci of the SSI’s inspections align with thelegal documents’ requirements for systematic quality work, includ-ing planning, follow-up, and evaluation. However, the injunctiondecisions also highlight variations in the interpretations of somecontents of the legal documents – including passages concerningpreschool principals’ responsibilities, such as contactability, facil-itation of co-planning and co-evaluation – that impact the realisa-tion arena. Moreover, the SSI’s decisions and interpretations of thelegal documents seem to inform the formulation arena, by high-lighting preschool principals’ non-compliance with implementa-tion of developmental goals and raising these issues on thepolitical agenda. Overall, the results indicate that variations inthe SSI’s interpretations of the legal documents and detailed over-sight have influenced both the formulation and realisation arenasand that preschool principals may have struggled to consistentlyalign their interpretations with those of the SSI.