A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Policy on Recruiting International Students for Vocational High Schools

Abstract

This study conducts a critical discourse analysis of five policy texts on recruiting international students for vocational high schools, identifying discourse formation mechanisms, naturalized premises, and excluded elements. First, the crisis discourse of population decline and labor shortages is naturalized to justify the policy, re-categorizing students from educational subjects into a labor force and settled population. Second, the contradiction between educational goals and labor acquisition is superficially sutured through narrative adjustments rather than fundamentally resolved. Third, protective measures for students effectively operate as technologies of governmentality, regulating their daily lives and directing them toward the local labor market. Fourth, key stakeholders, such as students, guardians, and sending countries, are entirely excluded from policy formation, demonstrating a structural lack of participatory parity. Ultimately, this discourse extends vocational education historical prioritization of economic objectives under the guise of internationalization. This study proposes a narrative paradigm shift to recognize students as learning subjects rather than instrumental resources, alongside visa reforms for flexible career pathways and structural improvements to guarantee participatory parity.