This presentation gives an overview of the main policy changes that have marked the evolution of state policymaking in the fields of teaching and nursing in Portugal, over the last three decades. The presentation consists of an analysis of policy documents and of published critical essays on the nature of these documents and the changes they imply. The main focus is the potential and the actual implications of these changes for the training and the professional life of teachers and nurses, as well as for the way their work organizations are managed. The presentation highlights major dilemmas that teachers and nurses face in the building of their professional identities and of their work lives, in the context of their restructured relations with the state and its citizens.