Challenging the Tropes of Neoliberalism in Discussions of Newcomer Youth in Canada

Abstract

In this re-examination of empirical data sets, we reconceptualize, from the perspectives of numerous stakeholders, the limits of identity positions available to immigrant adolescents who enter schools in immigrant-receiving schools and neighbourhoods already experiencing racism, intergenerational poverty, lack of social, economic, and cultural capital, and large numbers of English language learners. Research data referenced from three separate secondary schools in this context examined the social integration of English as a second language/additional language students within a variety of school-related contexts, related policies and students’ encounters with them, and students’ experiences of academic segregation and mainstreaming. Our re-reading of data through a lens critical of neoliberalism reveals how educational stakeholders, including students, buy into and replicate specific tropes of neoliberalism, which may be damaging in the long run. We urge educators to re-examine the language we use to describe students who are multilingual learners and that they consequently use to describe themselves.