Democracy, Capitalism and the Reform of Teacher Education

Abstract

To different degrees, Western industrial societies are both democratic and capitalist. In some respects, the tenets of democracy and the functional needs of capitalism are at odds. The state must try to manage the tensions between the two, particularly through its education policy, including that for teacher education. This paper analyses how teacher education policy since 1980 has been influenced by these tensions. It argues that current policy in teacher education is vulnerable to the objection that it is not democratic, but cautions that those calling for a more democratic basis for teacher education might be equally vulnerable to the objection that they focus too much on the democratic ends of education rather than on the technicalities of teaching. The analysis refers mainly to Britain and the United States.