ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on an immediate and topical interest in what happens in education, specifically teacher education and certification, when neoliberalist economic rationalism collides with professionalization in the policy-making context of Canada. The neoliberalist policy context lionizes economic rationality where individuality is discovered not in community but only in relation to market fulfillment—the state creates individuals who are enterprising and competitive entrepreneurs. Consequently, the sovereignty of the nation-state has, across the globe, been compromised by supranational entities such as the European Union (EU), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), and so on. These entities exist to provide both socioeconomic-political stability and harmonization for global capital. The nation-state’s redefinition has led to a trend toward standardization and instrumental rationality that is fostering de-professionalization. In Europe, we have the Bologna Agreement; in the United States, Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) for equivalence of standards; in Canada, the Agreement for Internal Trade (AIT) and its western Canada iteration, the Trade, Investment, and Labor Mobility Agreement (TILMA), all agreements that supersede any attempt to maintain professional standards in local jurisdictions. Hence, my thesis that diverse forces in North America—deregulation in the United States, and labor mobility agreements based on occupational requirements in Canada—are cultivating a trend toward standardization that will ultimately undermine the professional status of teaching.
