ERIC Number: EJ1408086
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
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ISSN: ISSN-0380-2361
EISSN: EISSN-1918-5979
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Who Is the "Student"? A Critical Analysis of Neo-Liberal Education Reform Legislation
Melanie Janzen; Rebeca Heringer
Canadian Journal of Education, v46 n3 p545-569 2023
Neo-liberal reforms in education have been sweeping the globe, undermining education as a public good, and diminishing its contributions to democratic life. Using post-structural perspectives, this article provides a critical discourse analysis of a proposed legislative bill in the province of Manitoba, Canada, as it relates to the construction of the "student." Using Foucault's conceptualizations of governmentality and historical ontology of the subject, we interrogate the government's proposed Bill 64 in order to reveal how policy works to constitute particular subjects. Our analysis reveals that Bill 64 constructs the student--through its relations to knowledge, others, and the self--as objectified and homogenous, and as being valued for economic contributions, thereby marginalizing other ways of being. By revealing the oppressive effects of neo-liberal discourses on students' subjectivities, this article aims to inform educators, education researchers, and policy makers in the pursuit of more equitable educational policies and systems.
Descriptors: Neoliberalism, Educational Policy, Equal Education, Educational Change, Discourse Analysis, Foreign Countries, Educational Legislation, Progressive Education, Educational Theories
Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE). 260 Dalhousie Street Suite 204, Ottawa, ON K1N 7E4, Canada. Tel: 613-241-0018; Fax: 613-241-0019; e-mail: csse-scee@csse.ca; Web site: http://cje-rce.ca/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
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Identifiers - Location: Canada
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