Quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) of comprehensive education have become a vital part of Finnish education policy discourse. The extensive breakthrough happened during the 1990s, in the middle of deep economic recession. In 1980s and 1990s, two grand ideas restructured Finnish public sector: management by results and evaluation. Evert Vedung (2004) sees the economic depression in 1990s as an impetus towards public sector evaluation. Also according to Risto Rinne and Hannu Simola (2005) the national combination of economic recession, ageing population and general welfare state crisis have caused - among other things - the takeoff of evaluation culture. This paper explores the development QAE in Finland: How did QAE become such a significant element of Finnish comprehensive education and its discourse? How did the ideas of QAE diffuse from international to national level? How has the quality of comprehensive education become problematised?The paper examines the basis for outlining the impacts of European and global education policy in national context - Finnish "policyscape" (Ball 1999). Two concepts will be drawn here: diffusion and power. Diffusion is seen as a loose framework for understanding the mechanisms of an spreading innovation (Rogers 1989), while power is understood more in a Foucauldian sense: normative, ubiquitous and based on dynamics of autonomous actors (Burchell, Gordon & Miller 1991; Foucault 1991; Foucault 1975/2005). The paper is also affected by Foucault in its attempt towards historical analysis: to explore the way discourses change over time. Research material consists a collection of Finnish governmental documents (laws, decrees, education development plans, national reports to OECD and Unesco, among others) and research reports by National Board of Education, for example. The timeframe covers documents from the 1970s to the present. According to initial findings our analysis will focus on following key concepts: indicators, quality and professionalism to realize the transformations in understanding the content of QEA concepts in different historical contexts in Finland.The paper will present some preliminary results from an on-going research project "Fabricating Quality in European Education", which is a collaborative project between Denmark, England, Finland, Scotland and Sweden. The tentative analysis has brought the following hypotheses: Indicators have changed from understanding massification of education into a way of global communication and national steering. Quality has become less substantial and more management-oriented. Educational professionalism has fragmented and teacher's profession has lost some of its previous developmental functions, while some elements influenced by managerialism have been attached to headmaster's duties.Ball, S. 1999. Labour, learning and the economy: a "policy sociology" perspective. Cambridge Journal of Education 29 (2), 195-206. Burchell, Graham, Gordon, Colin & Miller, Peter (1991) The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality. Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Foucault, Michel (1991) Governmentality. In Burchell et. al. (1991), 87-104. Foucault, Michel (1975/2005) Tarkkailla ja rangaista [Discipline and Punish]. Helsinki: Otava. Rinne, Risto & Simola, Hannu (2005) Koulutuksen ylikansalliset paineet ja yliopistojen uusi hallinta. Tiede & edistys 1/2005. Helsinki: Tutkijaliitto. Rogers, Everett M. (1983) Diffusion of Innovations. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Free Press. Vedung, Evert (2004) Arviointiaallon muodot ja suunnat. Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 69 (3), 242-250. The research is connected to collaborative project on "Fabricating Quality in European Education". Thus, the results will be published.