Teaching after the Market: From Commodity to Cosmopolitan

Abstract

This essay is a philosophical and sociological reconsideration of the nature of teaching and work. It draws broadly from the sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and materialist models of the economic subject. It begins from an acknowledgment and review of the critiques of current policy orientations to testing and accountability in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. One of the principal effects is the reconstruction of the teacher as commodity fetishist. The case is made that reassertions of definitions of teaching as craft and profession are of limited value in responding to new economic and policy conditions. A proposal is made for the reenvisioning of teachers and teaching in relation to cosmopolitan, transcultural contexts and conditions.