Sweden has from 2008 an independent Schools Inspectorate. The inspections are carried out through regular supervision and thematic evaluations. From this point of view, the purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss how inspections of schools are perceived by headmasters at the local level and how they handle the results in the reports. A second objective is to discuss if inspections of schools can be viewed as an effective way in order to achieve a higher degree of goal fulfillment. Headmasters in a local authority were asked about their opinions about this in a case study. The results show that most of them perceive that the reports essentially give a correct picture. They say they are aware of the problems that exists and that they already have been working to take actions. However, inspections of schools build on an ideal image, a picture that is presented in the policy documents. This is far from reality in most schools and a difficult task for headmasters to cope with.