Understanding Teacher Education in an Era of Globalization

The growth of a global economy, which has spurred fierce competition among many nations hoping to make economic advances, is changing social, political, and economic landscapes as well as the educational systems within these nations (Stromquist & Monkman, 2000). In the United States, these changes exert continual pressures to alter the ways in which public schools prepare their citizenry for work (Burbules & Torres, 2000) and the characteristics of classrooms where these preparations are actualized (García, Arias, Murri, & Serna, 2010). Consequently, changes in school functions and classroom characteristics are engendering changes in teach-ing and teacher education so that the United States can con-tend with the challenges emerging from globalization (Darling-Hammond & Cobb, 1996). The research community can help policy makers make