Political rationales and ideological stances of the standards-based reform of teacher education in the US

Movements to reform teacher education are underway in many parts of the world, including Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the US. These attempts at reform are motivated by various forces, but appear to reflect an international convergence toward uniformity, conformity, and compliance. Our purpose here is to analyze the forces and contradictions that currently shape the education of teachers and the nature of their work in the US. Given the scarcity of debate and research in the face of the sweeping implementation of reform mandates, we raise here critical questions about their political, philosophical, and intellectual integrity and their intended and unintended consequences for teaching and for teachers' autonomy. In this article we analyze teacher education reforms in the US in three steps. First, we examine the policies that have shaped the implementation of standards-based reform in teacher education, the assumptions that underlie them, and the means by which they are promoted (e.g., standards, assessment, increased regulations). Second, we analyze these reform policies and practices in the context of globalization and the global economy, forces that seem to define the ideological stances of the reform. Finally, we conclude by considering the implications for teaching, teacher knowledge, and teacher education. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.