Internationalization policies of public schooling and neoliberal discourses: A case study of Manitoba
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Date
2019-08-02
Authors
Elnagar, Abdelhady
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Abstract
A variety of studies relate the development of market-driven policies in Canadian public schooling to global neoliberalism (Basu, 2004; Henley & Young, 2009; Johnstone & Lee, 2016; Kwak, 2013; Schuetze, Kuehn, Davidson-Harden, Schugurensky & Weber, 2011; and, Wang, 2017). They suggest that: (i) market economies are redefining the essence of public schooling in Canada as a tradable and competitive commodity; and, (ii) the current solutions to different education policy problems are increasingly driven by notions of marketization, privatization, and performativity. Following a case study methodology, this research examines the development of Manitoba internationalization policy of public schooling in relation to neoliberal discourses from 1999 to 2016. An analysis of selected policy documents suggests that there were two stages for internationalization policy development: (i) an international trade-driven stage from 1999 to 2013; and, (ii) an immigration-driven stage from 2013 to 2016. The analysis also suggests that the policy as text had primarily economic purposes rather than educational ends. An analysis of interview data suggests that the internationalization policy as discourse was reflective of the prevailing global neoliberal public discourses of marketization, privatization, and expanding policy community/network. When describing the policy community structure and rationales, the participant views and opinions revealed the influence of these neoliberal discourses. In that context, the governmental rationale to internationalize public schooling in Manitoba was clearly economic-driven more than being education-oriented. The study shows that the development of internationalization policy, particularly the growth of public schooling international student programs, has manifested a window of opportunity for these neoliberal discourses to commodify, marketize, privatize, and expand the policy community of public schooling in Manitoba.
Keywords: Internationalization, policy, policy community, neoliberalism, and discourse.
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Keywords
Internationalization, Policy, Neoliberalism
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APA