Resisting positive universal views of the OECD politics of teacher education: from the perspective of negative universality

In this chapter, teacher education researchers from Denmark, Australia, Wales and Northern Ireland critically analyse the place of universal views expressed as positive forms of universalism in teacher education. A key player in influencing these particular views of universal improvement in teacher education is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The chapter critically examines three publications from the OECD Education Directorate to illustrate how two positive views of universalism can be identified and linked to seductive ideas of improvement in teacher education. Using an alternative theoretical lens of negative universality, we argue that by adopting such positive views of universalism, different forms of absence, marginalisation and exclusion are being implicitly advocated by the OECD. Furthermore, we also explore how such positive forms of universalism can lead to cruel optimism in teacher education that may generate frustration, anxiety and exclusion. The challenge for teacher educators is understanding how the promises of positive universalism can capture our desire for improvement in ways that make us strive for non-educational objects, e.g., standards and ‘best practices’, that fail to support intellectual flourishing and ethical-political thinking, which are vital elements in (teacher) education.