Producing “Good” Citizens: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Publication, Achieving excellence

Abstract

Researchers are concerned that education is increasingly pressured and influenced by market-driven agendas which may compromise or usurp education as a vehicle for social justice and critical thinking. In this study, I employ Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a theoretical framework and research method to examine the discursive construction of education in the Ontario Ministry of Education’s (OME), 2014 publication entitled, Achieving excellence: A renewed vision for education in Ontario (hereafter referred to as Achieving excellence). I use Fairclough’s three dimensional framework to look at metaphors, lexical choices, and multimodal features within the text. My findings suggest that Achieving excellence discursively constructs education as a path to employment and connects employment to good citizenship. This appears to be a trend within neoliberal society, which requires further critical study.