Teachers as Global "Target Populations"

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Collaborations to Standardize the Educators

Abstract

The construction of “target populations” plays a key role in U.S. policy formation and educational debates. In this paper, I analyze how teachers have been constructed as target populations by two major international actors: the OECD and UNESCO. Despite different policy agendas and constituencies, both organizations frame teachers as important and morally deserving but politically weak and professionally incompetent agents. The increasing collaboration between these two organizations constitutes a major force driving teacher-related policies around the world. From 1995 onward, both organizations have promoted policies that depict teachers as incapable of managing their own professional standards and in need of external support. These polices have informed national reforms around the world, with significant ramifications for the long-term professionalization of teaching.

Author

• Gerald K. LeTendre, The Pennsylvania State University