Upskill America? : The implications of neoliberal discourses in educational programs for migrant learners
Year of publication
2021
Authors
Ennser-Kananen, Johanna; Vanek, Jen
Abstract
In the US, adult literacy and English language programs have long had a functional framing, making use of public funds to acknowledge and support a range of learning goals. Such programs have fallen short of providing educational opportunities, because they are underfunded. At the same time, the rapid pace of innovation and high levels of employment create an imperative for adults who have been traditionally left out of the work/economy to become employable. Hence, crisis discourse around “skills gaps” and the need to upskill is common. This chapter understands such processes as part of neoliberal ideologies and analyzes the discourses around “upskilling” in two policy documents, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI)’s English Plus Integration Shifting the Instructional Paradigm for Immigrant Adult Learners to Support Integration Success and the National Immigration Forum (NIF)’s Upskilling New Americans: Innovative English Training for Career Advancement. Our analysis illustrates how discourse in these texts provides a glimpse of the priorities that influence learning, some of which may create vulnerability and disenfranchisement for adult migrants with emerging print literacy. More specifically, our findings speak to the different ways adult learners are viewed and the problematic prioritization of employers as main beneficiaries of upskilling initiatives. We thereby shed light on what it means, when educational opportunities are framed as “training” versus “learning” and what the implications of such discourses are for the inclusion/exclusion of adult learners in the US.
Show moreOrganizations and authors
Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Compendium
Article type
Other article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A3 Book section, Chapters in research booksPublication channel information
Parent publication name
International Perspectives on Inclusion within Society and Education
Parent publication editors
Brown, Mabel Ann
Publisher
Pages
42-56
ISBN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
3
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
No
Self-archived
No
Other information
Fields of science
Social policy; Educational sciences; Languages
Keywords
[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Publication country
United Kingdom
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
Yes
Co-publication with a company
Yes
DOI
10.4324/9781003016090-5
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes