This paper investigates the hypothesis that teacher education in European welfare states is commodified due to its governance by neoliberal policy making. The starting point for the analysis is a discussion of the relationship between the welfare state and teacher professionalism. For this purpose, the concept of the ill-defined problem is applied. It shows why and how teacher education was changed in order to work as an economic instrument. Beyond that, it highlights how teacher education curricula, teacher education students and learning outcomes have become commodified. Finally, the paper shows that teacher education in Europe is nothing more than a mimetic construction of buying and selling a commodity.