Quality, contractualism, and control: Orchestrating the sectoral settlement in teachers' work in New Zealand

In this paper I argue that in order to understand the deeper significance of the Review of Teacher Education in New Zealand, the Review itself must be located within a broader understanding of the restructuring agenda in New Zealand. This agenda has at its heart the embedding of the new competitive contractual state settlement. Not only are the precise features of this settlement as they are being worked out in New Zealand becoming more clearly visible, they are furthest advanced in particular sites within the state, including compulsory schooling. It has become increasingly apparent, however, that the current modes of provision and regulation of the teaching profession and (pre-service and in-service) teacher education, fall outside the new competitive and contractualist modes of state organisation and governance. Competition and contractualism signal the emergence of new forms of regulation and control over the teaching.