Diversification of the teaching profession in Europe and beyond: Ambivalences of recognition in the context of (forced) migration

Abstract

The topic of teacher diversification relating to migration has come to the fore in recent years in many European countries and beyond. Despite the support of a diverse teaching force by different stakeholders on a national and European level, a critical discourse explores the problematic implications of political aspirations associated with the recruitment of migrant teachers: in their introduction to the pan-European anthology Diversifying the Teaching Force in Transnational Contexts, Schmidt and Schneider (2016) emphasise that the minority or ethnic or linguistic backgrounds of the teachers should not become the main criterion for recruiting them, because most teachers do not want to be hired (primarily) on this basis, but rather for their professional qualifications (p. xii). In this context, it is not only the othering processes (Said, 1978; Spivak, 1985) of teachers that need to be seen critically, but also the homogenisation of teachers’ (professional) perspectives, experiences and interests, which are very diverse – not only in relation to the teachers’ own migration experiences and those of their families. In addition to the aforementioned attribution dynamics, if political aspirations are realisable, the respective national migration policies must also be taken into account. Regarding teachers that wish to return to the teaching profession after migration – hereafter named international teachers1 – the question of formal recognition of the (EU and nonEU) foreign qualifications is of central importance to be able to work as a teacher again. Besides the formal national prerequisites, the image of oneself and others of what a ‘typical teacher’ in a country should be, look and sound like are a major factor in the (discriminatory) experience of teachers in the respective school system. This Special Issue focuses on the ambivalent structures of recognition in national school systems regarding the situation of international teachers on the one side, as well as teachers with a