A Comparative Analysis of Teaching Standards and Standards-Based Reforms in the United States and Australia

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 18
  In Roundtable Session: Comparative Education Policy

Abstract

This paper will problematize the often taken-for-granted concepts of teaching/teacher standards, standards-based reforms (SBRs) and standardization in education policy and policy studies. Representing empirical research from two national settings (the USA and Australia), we question how teaching/teacher standards and SBRs are constituted and made possible. Synthesizing theoretical and conceptual work, we explore 1) the rationalities and logics evident in SBRs in the USA and Australia, and 2) how SBRs occur in relation to teaching/teacher standards. Despite different approaches to standards in the USA and Australia, we conclude the effects of such reforms may be broadly similar as understandings of teachers (and teaching) become increasingly standardized, even if this does not ultimately guarantee the standardization of practices.

Authors

• Steven Lewis, Deakin University

• Glenn Clifton Savage, The University of Western Australia

• Jessica Holloway, Deakin University