ERIC Number: EJ1436834
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0268-0939
EISSN: EISSN-1464-5106
International Education Policy and/as the Limits of Humanism: A Posthuman Critique from the Anthropocene
Journal of Education Policy, v39 n5 p755-774 2024
Critiques of international education policy frequently take issue with how it stabilises neoliberal values at the expense of the progressive aims of education. Yet the humanism underpinning these debates can work to exclude environmental concerns from the remit of educational policy. This article offers a posthuman critique of the "Australian Strategy for International Education 2021-2030" that does not take for granted that international education policy should be humanistic but considers how it comes to be affirmed as such. Through a discourse analysis of the "Strategy" and supporting materials, this article identifies three manoeuvres that affirm the policy as humanistic. Firstly, neoliberal values and notions of wellbeing are wedded together in a shared understanding that the "Strategy" must be student centred. Secondly, the "Strategy" reinscribes divisions between humans and nature by casting land as a passive backdrop for human activities. And thirdly, the "Strategy" makes a claim to perpetuity by linking the acquisition of human skills with a sustainable and prosperous future. The conclusion contends that international education policy cannot ignore the impacts of human activity on the world and must nurture the vast range of interdependencies that sustain life.
Descriptors: International Education, Educational Policy, Humanism, Criticism, Discourse Analysis, Higher Education, Educational Strategies, Foreign Countries, Neoliberalism, Well Being, Student Centered Learning, Skills, Sustainability, Climate
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A