Paradoxical inscriptions of global subjects: critical discourse analysis of international schools' websites in the Asia–Pacific Region

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of Asia–Pacific international school web pages, and explores the expressed purposes of schooling, with regard to the kinds of students/subjects that the schools purport to produce. Using the concept of globalization as a ‘master’ analytical frame, it is argued that despite claims to offering students unique experiences, international school web pages reproduce similar discourses in the construction of the student as an individual, member of a community and world‐changing global citizen. Importantly, it is argued that while such discourses are often contradictory, this is nowhere more exemplified than in the claims to produce global citizens.

Keywords:

• global citizenship
• international school web pages
• student subjectivities

Notes

1. Bangladesh (4/10), Brunei (1/3), Cambodia (2/8), China (13/38), Fiji (1/3), Guam (0/1), Hong Kong (8/24), India (9/27), Indonesia (10/30), Japan (9/28), South Korea (5/15), Laos (1/1), Malaysia (5/15), Mongolia (0/1), New Zealand (0/1), Nepal (1/2), Pakistan (1/4), Papua New Guinea (2/6), Philippines (4/12), Singapore (5/15), Sri Lanka (2/4), Taiwan (2/6), Thailand (14/423) and Vietnam (1/5). The first number in brackets indicates the number of school websites analysed, whereas the second number indicates the total number of international schools identified in the country.