ABSTRACT
The reformism that has characterised national education policy in many Western countries over the last two decades, and that has transformed the structure, if not the nature, of teacher education in those countries, has several common, though not necessarily compatible, characteristics. Perhaps the most obvious among these have been: Neo-Liberal agendas to transform education, including teacher education, into a commodity market; NeoConservative agendas to break existing monopolies and provide greater choice in education provision; an ostensibly re-professionalising agenda to increase the academic and professional rigour of teacher education by placing it more (or in some countries, less) firmly in the universities; and an effort to make teacher education more fiscally and professionally accountable to central governments. The dominant policy agenda in Western democracies has been to open up teacher education to market forces, to academise its provision, and to cut its cost.
