Educational framing and discursive educational opportunity structures in comparative and international education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This conceptual paper draws on theoretical insights from the concept of discursive opportunity structure. The paper uses a summative content analysis (a comparison of historical records) to demonstrate how discursive opportunity structures shape the multi-level nature of educational governance, which operates at different scales in different regions. Before the Coronavirus (COVID-19) struck, the post-2008 global recession had begun to give way to the ‘gated global,’ as nations were retreating towards closed regionalism and trans-regionalism as evidenced by an uptick in regional trading agreements (RTAs). This implies that globalisation is metamorphosing as global responsibilities are transferred to the regional level. This paper will use the 15 Member grouping, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), as an example of how political opportunities at the regional level are currently molding national educational agendas. It draws attention to how education is framed horizontally and vertically while illuminating what I term ‘discursive educational opportunity structure’ in which actors, institutions, and text define, develop, and maintain the dominant discourses. This piece demonstrates how institutional opportunities arise at different levels of the educational system and how their dominant discourses are framed and mobilised by various actors to advance their causes.