The aim of the paper is to discuss recent trends related to tendencies in education policy and education worldwide. Neoliberal education policy as a coherent cross-national education policy set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standards, Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, and other transnational educational comparisons influencing traditional national education policy, has been evident for many years. This tendency has been prevalent in Denmark and the United States for years as well. A range of prominent educational philosophers and educators have challenged these trends, pointing to the fact that the unintended implications have been a narrowing of curriculum to focus on teaching to the test activities and resulting in a decline in critical thinking among students. Many educators and educational philosophers have joined the critique towards recent transnational education policy. In reference to ongoing and intense discussions, the aim of this paper is to discuss and rethink new approaches. Based on revisiting educational ideas of educational thinkers such as Dewey, Klafki, and Biesta, the authors and others, attempt to develop a notion of a more balanced education system, named "the ecological approach". An ecological approach in education and teacher education focuses on uniqueness, integrity, resilience, and personal development of students in combination with a skill-focused training of the student as a whole person.