THE DISCURSIVE FRAMING OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Muffet

Explores how British Columbia’s international education programs are constructed through discourse by government and media actors. The study examines two-decade expansion in program scale and how framing differs between groups and across sources. While some coverage interprets growth as revenue driven by tuition fees, other accounts emphasize school-based internationalization and cultural diversity. Critical discourse analysis of policy and media texts finds limited co-constitution between state and media in presenting these programs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages33

Reading Time1 h 23 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Market-driven revenue and international education in BC

Privatization, creeping privatization, and equity concerns

Policy-as-discourse and mediatization framework

Methodology: critical discourse analysis

THE DISCURSIVE FRAMING OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Dwayne Cover, University of British Columbia This study examines how international education programs in British Columbia have been discursively framed by government and media sources. Over the past two decades, international education programs have expanded in number and scale in the province, a phenomenon that has been interpreted by some education researchers and media sources as predominantly an effort to generate further revenue from international student tuition fees. However, international education programs are also seen as opportunities for increased internationalization, with students from different national and cultural backgrounds in BC schools alongside domestic students. We draw upon the concept of mediatization of policy to position and understand the relation between the state and media sources in the shaping of public understanding of education policy, as well as upon the theoretical lenses of marketization and internationalization for analysis. Methodologically, we employ critical discourse analysis to examine government documents and texts from provincial and local media sources. Findings suggest that there has not been a co-constitutive role for government and media in discursively presenting international education programs, with differing foci between groups and even within groups. Introduction Fallon and Poole (2014) observe that market-driven revenue sources, characterized by commodification of education services, competition among schools and districts, and expanded consumer (i.e., parent and student) choice, are becoming increasingly evident for K–12 public education in British Columbia (BC) . These types of revenue streams have not been traditionally associated with the financing ofK–12 public education in the province. In the current funding climate, market-driven revenue is drawn from private sources, with international education (IE) programs as a primary example. These programs are common in BC school districts, as well as in districts and boards across the country, and in jurisdictions around the world. IE programs draw tuition-paying, non-resident international students into K–12 public schools to study alongside local students. These programs now constitute the second largest source of revenue for BC school districts (Kuehn, 2012), although making up a very small percentage of overall funding in comparison to government transfer payments. IE programs in BC generated approximately $156 million in 2013–14 for all districts combined (BC Ministry of Education, 2014a) . In BC, and in other jurisdictions, these programs are receiving increasing attention, in terms of resource allocation and as a focal point for economic growth within the financing of public education in the province (BC Ministry of Advanced Education, 2013) . IE Programs are noteworthy not only because they provide an expanding form of funding for public education, but, perhaps more importantly, because they have been argued as a new form of privatization of public education, although not necessarily privatization in a traditional sense. Privatization of public services is defined as the transfer of ownership, governance, or provision from the public sphere to the private sector (Lubienski, 2006; Whitty & Power, 2000) . However, a number of education researchers, including Ball (2007), Burch (2009), and Lubienski (2006), argue that a more nuanced reading of privatization is now necessary to capture some of the subtle (and in some jurisdictions not so subtle) shifts occurring in education reform. As an example, Ball and Youdell (2008) offer a conceptual distinction between exogenous privatization, denoting participation by private businesses in public education, and endogenous privatization, denoting a shift in the thinking and behaviour of public education actors toward more “private-like” motivations (e.g., efficiency, entrepreneuri

FAQs

What is the core research question about international education programs in British Columbia?

How the general public may come to understand international education programs as a course of education reform through discursive framing by government and media sources.

How do some researchers and media sources interpret the expansion of these programs?

They interpret the growth as primarily aimed at generating additional revenue from international student tuition fees.

What methodology and main conclusion does the study report?

It applies critical discourse analysis to government documents and provincial/local media texts, concluding there is not a co-constitutive role for government and media in how the programs are presented.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Muffet