The aim of the present study is to investigate how the concept of systematic quality work is perceived by school teachers. Eleven interviews were conducted and analysed according to the phenomenographical method, inspired by qualitative content analysis. Five qualitatively different descriptive categories were identified: (i) tools for implementation, (ii) tools for planning for quality assurance, (iii) tools for control, (iv) tools for indirect governance, and (v) tools for learning. These descriptive categories fall under two overarching themes: (i) operations directed towards efficiency and (ii) operations directed towards school development. The former is linked to rational terms such as achieving the school-system's learning outcomes, whilst the latter is linked to the school-system's more overarching relational- and democratic goals. The total sample space provides a picture of how teachers perceive "systematic quality work" primarily as a tool for different forms of governance and control of the school-system's pedagogic operations.