Social work organizations are faced with rapid changes that increase demands on quality and quality assessment. Before deciding how to assess quality, it is necessary to define what quality means with regard to a specific activity.Defining what is meant by quality is especially important before assessing the quality of integration activities developed for new immigrants. To address these issues, this study focuses on the concept of quality with respect to the efforts made to support immigrant integration in Sweden, through an activity called civic orientation. The data consist of interviews, observations, and video recordings of personnel working in an integration office. The results show how quality is manifested: firstly, in organizational structures for supporting and developing practitioners' knowledge; secondly, in standardized methods and material, and thirdly, in recognizing and attending to individual differences andthe sense of cultural belonging in daily interactions. One conclusion is that the knowledge of the integration workers – seeing and understanding the heterogeneity of immigrants' cultural backgrounds and bridging boundaries – isvital to the quality of civic orientation. That knowledge is central to the future organization of integration work, but could become invisible with a one-sided emphasis on standardization in quality work.
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