Editorial: The 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. 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 family migration history on the other. Addressing these teachers’ experiences of migration discourses and structural barriers in the respective societies, without framing them as ‘the other’ teachers, is central to the intertwining of the teaching profession and migration. First, the topic of teacher diversification is introduced as a policy issue on a European level as well as on a national level in European countries. Second, recognition as an ambivalent theoretical concept is presented. Third, we use this perspective to point out dimensions of ambivalence of recognition for migrant teachers that become visible in the research presented in this Special Issue from Australia, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland: formal (non-)recognition of professional certificates and experiences of international teachers, social recognition and misrecognition as well as recognition as a (powerful) practice of subject constitution in the context of migration research.

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 teachers ¹ – the question of formal recognition of the (EU and non-EU) 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 (discrimination) 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 family migration history on the other. Addressing these teachers’ experiences of migration discourses and structural barriers in the respective societies, without framing them as ‘the other’ teachers, is central to the intertwining of the teaching profession and migration. In this editorial we focus on the ambivalences of recognition that can be explored with regard to the diversification of the teaching force in migration societies. First, the topic of teacher diversification is introduced as a policy issue on a European level as well as on a national level in European countries. Second, we give an overview of the debate on the recognition theory in social and educational sciences to frame recognition as a multidimensional and ambivalent concept. Third, we use this perspective to point out dimensions of ambivalence of recognition for migrant teachers that become visible in the research presented in the contributions of this Special Issue from Australia, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland.

Policy strategies at a European and national level: Recruiting and employing migrant teachers

On a European level policy papers have been published that argue in favour of teacher diversification related to migration (Donlevy et al., 2016; European Commission, 2016: 8; Heckmann, 2008: 62; SIRIUS, 2014: 4). In the comparative analysis of migrant/minority teachers across the EU28, Donlevy et al. (2016: 10) point out that growing diversity in staff rooms may contribute to enhancing the educational success of migrant children, more precisely the ‘academic and non-academic outcomes for learners with a migrant/minority background’ (Donlevy et al., 2016: 11). The report advises the European Commission to encourage its member states to develop and implement educational policies and strategies for recruiting migrant teachers. Similar recommendations were made in an earlier report, again on behalf of the European Commission: Heckmann (2008) advocates European countries to ‘[e]ncourage young people of migration background to go onto teacher training. Schools should hire more teachers with a migration background’ (Heckmann, 2008: 62), as ‘[t]here is some research evidence that the presence of teachers of the same ethnicity and/or migration status as the students has a positive influence on minority student achievement’ (Heckmann, 2008: 37). ² However, these recommendations are confronted with the difficulty of European education systems, as a recent report by the European Commission states that a ‘quarter of education systems identify the recruitment of teachers from migrant backgrounds as a challenge’ (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2019: 116). Also from a global perspective, Goldhaber et al. (2015) state in an analysis on Black and Hispanic minority teacher recruitment in Washington, US that the success of policy strategies to increase the percentage of minority teachers is rather low. In the UK a recent report on Black, Asian and minority ethnic teachers (BAME) highlights the persistence of experiences of structural disadvantage and racism (Tereshchenko et al., 2020).

With regard to international teachers, recommendations are provided at a European level on the labour market access of non-EU nationals including refugees (European Commission, 2016; European Parliament, 2016). Statistical data on a European level demonstrates that ‘third-country nationals across the EU continue to fare worse than EU citizens in terms of employment, education, and social inclusion outcomes’ (European Commission, 2016: 2). Many non-EU nationals are overqualified for their jobs and/or work under disadvantageous conditions regarding wages, employment protection, and career prospects (European Commission, 2016: 9). European policy papers point out the potential of non-EU nationals in the European Union: missing opportunities to acknowledge qualifications are seen a ‘massive waste of resources, both for the individuals concerned themselves and more generally for our economy and society’ (European Commission, 2016: 4). With a special focus on refugees, earlier and better inclusion in the labour markets of the European member states is needed (European Parliament, 2016: 9ff.). The European Commission suggests the provision of institutional support and pathways for non-EU nationals, including the validation of skills and qualifications as well as training and upskilling (European Commission, 2016: 8ff.). ³

Besides these supra-national policy (advice) papers at the EU-level, reports regarding teachers with a family migration history as well as migrated teachers can also be found in different national contexts provided by national or regional stakeholders like political institutions, foundations and teacher unions. In Germany, for example, educational policy advocates an increase in the number of ethnic minority teachers and has been promoting this through various programmes and initiatives for more than a decade. ⁴ These address different levels: in order to recruit high school graduates as prospective teachers, ⁵ to support pre-service teachers during their studies with a scholarship ⁶ or to establish and support networks for in-service teachers with a family migration history. ⁷ In Austria, too, the federal government created ‘incentives’ within the framework of a government policy programme (2008–2013): ‘so that more qualified persons with a migration background enter the teacher training’ (Bundeskanzleramt Österreich [Federal Chancellery Austria], 2008: 203 cited in Mantel, 2017: 16f.). In Switzerland, to name a third example from Europe, comparable policy advice is given by the ‘Swiss Conference of Directors of Teacher Education Universities’ (COHEP, 2007) and the ‘Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education’ (EDK, 2000): They recommend reducing barriers and encouraging students with a family migration history to become teachers (Mantel, 2020: 2).

The situation of international teachers is addressed by different stakeholders on a national level. On behalf of the global union federation Education International the American Federation of Teachers provided a study on the experiences of internationally mobile teachers worldwide including a survey of 1358 respondents who had taught abroad – mostly in the US (Caravatti et al., 2014). Key findings of this mixed-method study are to promote programmes for the international exchange of teachers, to avoid reproducing global inequality when using strategies of international teacher recruitment to address teacher shortages as well as to protect the rights of teachers that made the choice to migrate for different reasons and to support their agency (Caravatti et al., 2014: 7). In Germany, a recent study by the Union for Education and Science (GEW) has been published on the experiences of migrated teachers in the different states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Overall, the study stresses the need to urgently improve the conditions of formal recognition and employment for these teachers to offer access for professional re-entry (GEW, 2021). This demand is in line with the aim of the coalition agreement of the Federal Government in Germany (2021–2025), in which the topic is given high priority and is stated: ‘We want to accelerate and simplify the recognition of foreign qualifications in the teaching profession’ (SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and FDP, 2021: 97, translation by the authors). In Sweden, which has a long tradition in the inclusion of immigrants in the labour market, a 2016 Swedish Government official report on the situation of newly arrived teachers offers recommendations for pathways and support structures for these teachers by addressing school authorities, school staff and universities. The report recommends labour market educational initiatives that provide new arrivals different paths to teaching positions in Swedish schools. The report proposes, among other things, the Fast-track programme for newly arrived teachers, designed as a post-secondary labour market training provided by universities. It complements their prior teacher training and offers an introduction to the Swedish school system and marks the first step in applying for a Swedish teaching certificate which may require further supplementary studies at university (Statens Offentliga Utredningar [Swedish Government official reports], 2016).

In this selected overview, it becomes apparent that the issue of teacher diversification is taken up in some and especially in Western and Northern European countries. Policy papers and programmes refer to reducing barriers, creating incentives and thereby increasing the popularity of the teaching profession for people with a family migration history while simultaneously supporting the accessibility for international teachers to re-enter the teaching profession after migration. The diversification of the teaching profession is going to be reflected from a recognition theory perspective.

Recognition as an ambivalent concept

Recognition as one of the major concepts in social and educational sciences is the subject of controversial debate. According to Allemann-Ghionda (2009: 135), recognition was also taken up in the phase of the establishment of intercultural and diversity education in Europe in the second half of the 20th century. In line with the cultural turn in social sciences in the 20th century she points to Taylor’s (1994) theory of recognition as a milestone. In ‘The Politics of Recognition (1994)’ Taylor defines recognition as ‘not just a courtesy we owe people. It is a vital human need’ (p. 26) and starts from the question of growing as a subject and developing an identity with regard to the human, inescapable need for recognition. Based on the political controversy surrounding the special status of the Canadian province of Quebec, he explores ways of framing conflicts between disadvantaged minorities and a dominant majority culture. By studying political approaches to differences and minority rights Taylor contrasts the politics of universalism, which advocates equal rights for all on the basis of universal human dignity, with the politics of difference, which supports particular and minority rights on the basis of multiple identities. Engen (2009) captures this and underlines the fundamental pedagogical importance of recognition for extended empowerment through his reading of Taylor that ‘recognition both constitutes a relation of mutual respect and is a main premise for dialogue between a cultural majority and minorities, while lack of recognition undermines any dialogue and leads to indignation, contempt, and a feeling of exclusion’ (p. 256).

In addition, Axel Honneth’s theory on ‘The Struggle for Recognition (1995)’ focuses on recognition as a fundamental human need. Based on intersubjective recognition, a positive self-relationship can be developed. Honneth’s model of recognition is characterised as normative with reference to a ‘formal conception of ethical life’ (Honneth, 1995: 171ff., critical Zurn, 1996). He develops a critique of society that focuses on the ‘multiple feelings of social disregard’ (Honneth, 2000: 108) based on everyday experiences of injustice for many. However, for Honneth, this experience may lead to opposition and struggles for recognition and can include processes of emancipation to aim for social change (Honneth, 2000). Although Honneth himself – like Taylor – did not focus on questions concerning educational institutions and paedagogical practice, ⁸ both concepts have been taken up in educational science in general and with a special focus on intercultural and diversity education. Based on these considerations, recognition is referred to as a normative principle of paedagogical action, as a sign of the quality of paedagogical relationships and a frame for well-being in education (Graham et al., 2017).

However, another strand of the discourse on recognition discusses the embedded power structure of recognition and highlights recognition as a dilemmatic paedagogical practice (Balzer, 2021: 346). From this perspective the paedagogical programmatics of recognition are considered to be at risk of taking too little and too little systematically into account social hierarchies and asymmetries. And worse, because recognition is understood as a powerful, culturally coded practice of identification, it has the danger of fixing differences and being implicated in the construction of inequalities (Mecheril et al., 2010: 187). This critique, especially offered by poststructuralist and postcolonial perspectives, questions recognition as an ethical practice: it is asked who is able to recognise whom as who and under which conditions. Answering this question points, according to Butler (2004), to schemes of recognition that determine who will be regarded as a subject worthy of recognition. In an interview in 2012, Butler stresses that ‘“recognition” becomes a problem for those who have been excluded from the structures and vocabularies of political representation’ (Willig, 2012: 140). Recognition therefore not only affirms what already exists in its equivalence or particularity. It is an act of (re-)producing norms and classifications (Balzer and Ricken, 2010). As a result, ambivalent effects of recognition become visible, as the role of power and recognition in subject-formation is taken into account (McQueen, 2015): When ‘(R)ecognition is treated as co-extensive with power’, then ‘any act of recognition can simultaneously exert negative (e.g. normalising/exclusionary) as well as positive (e.g. self-affirming) pressure’ – the ‘result is a more ambivalent account of recognition than Honneth and Taylor offer, which is better attuned to the negative effects inherent within acts of recognition’ (McQueen, 2015: 49).

In a recent publication, Ikäheimo et al. (2021) sum up the ambivalence of recognition as follows: The basic human need to be recognised can move individuals ‘to accept their assigned place in the social order by conforming to oppressive norms or obeying repressive institutions’ (see the online abstract). As editors of the volume Recognition and Ambivalence. New Directions in Critical Theory (2021), they bring together different theoretical perspectives in the discourse on recognition. They state that currently proponents of theories of recognition like Honneth and critics like Butler ‘explore different routes toward a critical theory of recognition, departing from wholly positive or negative views to ask whether it is an essentially ambivalent phenomenon’ (Ikäheimo et al., 2021). However, in highlighting the ambivalence of recognition, the question still remains whether recognition is seen as a rather positive normative phenomenon or whether recognition leads at the end to negative effects on human freedom. Nevertheless, the editors of the volume argue that in the positions after Hegel, recognition is already inherent as an ambivalent concept, and Butler’s view of recognition is far from pessimistic, taking into account ‘both the necessary, constitutive role of recognition in the lives of humans as interdependent, needy beings, and the potential for aggression and destruction in psychic and social life’ (Ikäheimo et al., 2021: 10).

In this Special Issue we are contributing to the debate on the ambivalent concept of recognition addressing the diversification of the teaching profession. Regarding international teachers the topic of recognition is related strongly to the formal (non-)recognition of qualifications. Furthermore, these teachers often share experiences of social (mis)recognition (Bourdieu, 1984: 387) with teachers with a family migration history being addressed as the ‘diverse others’. Experiences of discrimination of teaches can refer to the intersection of language, appearance, nationality, and religious belonging as well as others. In the following we will present the papers of this Special Issue by highlighting three dimensions of ambivalence of recognition regarding the diversification of the teaching profession and related research: first, we will focus on formal (non-)recognition of professional certificates and experiences of international teachers, second, the dimension of social recognition and misrecognition is stressed, and third, the role of recognition as a (powerful) practice of subject constitution in the context of migration research is taken up.

Ambivalences of recognition of migrant teachers: The contributions in this Special Issue

The contributions in this Special Issue refer to recognition in different ways. However, the references mostly highlight embedded ambivalences of recognition regarding the situation of teachers with a family migration history or those who have migrated as teachers. The seven contributions on the diversification of the teaching profession in migration societies open up an access to three dimensions of the ambivalence of recognition that have been identified. The three dimensions will serve as a structure to present the compilation of this Special Issue. It may be that a paper addresses more than one ambivalence and is therefore taken up several times.

Formal (non-)recognition of professional certificates and experiences of international teachers

In the contributions dealing with teachers who wish to work in their profession again after migration, this topic of formal (non-)recognition of professional certificates and experiences of international teachers plays a key role for professional re-entry. As all papers present results of research in the context of university-based qualification programmes that aim to support teachers to find their way back into the teaching profession, an ambivalence of recognition occurs. This is apparent in the fact that the official qualification programmes address the migrated teachers as teachers, even though university qualification programmes are not entitled to formally recognise qualification and offer a teaching licence; this task is under the power of the respective school authorities, which are often partners of the qualification programmes. The programmes provide orientation and further qualification, but do not lead to equivalent certification to a full teacher training programme in the respective country, unless supplementary studies in regular teacher training are taken up.

The often formal non- or only partial recognition of teacher qualifications from other countries by authorities is understood as a devaluation of knowledge, which is mostly accompanied by a loss of social status, as Bengtsson and Mickwitz (2021) present in their study on experiences of international teachers taking part in the labour market Fast-Track-programme at the Stockholm University, Sweden. They foreground an institutional perspective to analyse formal and informal institutional conditions that support or hinder international teachers in their aim for legitimacy as professional teachers. Also, in his contribution Cruickshank (2021) presents data from a government-funded provision of pathways to teacher accreditation at the University of Sydney, Australia. Based on the situation of major structural and institutional barriers for international teachers accessing the profession, many of the teachers work in community language schools (as volunteers) that offer heritage language classes. It shows that due to the lack of opportunities in the general school system, a shift is made to the institutional context of supplementary schools as a niche. Furthermore, Cruickshank shows how formal devaluation can lead to the affirmation of de-professionalisation by some teachers themselves; they adopt a deficit-oriented perspective for their own educational biography.

The strategies of migrated teachers to cope with the non-recognition of qualifications and experience in European countries and beyond is focussed in the contribution by Proyer et al. (2021) as well as the contribution by Terhart (2021). Proyer et al. point out that the teachers taking part in a Certificate Course adressing international teachers at the University of Vienna, Austria, are strongly affected in their (professional) self-image. Because of the experience of insecurity and professional devaluation they are in a situation of (professional) insecurity. Experiences of being addresses as the ‘other teacher’ are taken up by the teachers as a basis to stress their professionalism as school subject teachers. The research critically examines existing formal barriers for migrated teachers to re-enter the teaching profession and offers potential measures to reduce them. In her study, Terhart shows that the teachers participating in a qualification program for refugee teachers at the University of Cologne, Germany, particularly emphasise their long-standing expertise as teachers and define the acquisition of German as a further language as difficult but possible task. In this way, the international teachers counter the experience that their achievements are assessed as not equivalent to the qualification to be proven. To do so, the teachers must “manage to keep up their hope” in order to continue on the uncertain path towards their aim of re-entering the teaching profession (Terhart, 2021).

Social recognition and misrecognition

Beyond formal recognition, issues of social recognition and misrecognition play an important role in everyday practices as well as in respective discourses on the diversification of the teaching profession. This reveals ambivalent forms of social recognition in which disregard is embedded in both the situation of international teachers as well as teachers with a family migration history. Systematic misrecognition is addressed in the contribution by Mc Daid and Nowlan (2021), who report on the situation of international teachers in Ireland. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence, the authors point out that teachers are pedagogic agents with pedagogic authority through formal processes of accreditation and selection, and through notions of the legitimate conduct of the profession. These processes involve the imposition of cultural arbitraries which legitimate certain languages, content or stances over others. The dimension of misrecognition is also pointed out by the aforementioned contribution by Proyer et al. (2021): It becomes evident that social recognition is not experienced by the international teachers without accepting their position as a ‘diverse teacher’: Some teachers’ experience of being addressed as refugees, especially in school internships, is a topic of critical reflection in the participatory research.

The labelling of teachers with a so-called migration background in Germany by education policy as more pedagogically competent in intercultural education is the starting point of the study by Rosen and Jacob (2021). Since their statistical analysis on the paedagogical orientations of teachers with and without a so-called migration background yields predominantly neutral (‘null’) findings, they discuss the German educational policy assumptions as ethnicisation, which run the risk of disregarding paedagogical professional qualifications. Mantel (2021) focusses in her study on those teachers for whom the question of recognition has become relevant by being addressed as a person with a ‘migration background’ as part of their biographical trajectories in Switzerland. Mantel analyses in what ways related experiences of othering are connected to the teachers’ paedagogical orientations in dealing with the heterogeneity among their students in Swiss schools. By refering to Honneths theory of recognition, Mantel points out a gap between their potential of dealing with a diverse classroom and their actual realisation of it. This gap can be explained as restriction that derives from the fact that their migration history leads to precarised forms of belonging.

Recognition as a (powerful) practice of subject constitution in the context of migration research

Three contributions more or less explicitly take up the question of recognition as a powerful practice of subject constitution in the context of migration research and thus in existing social relations of inequality. What these aforementioned contributions have in common is the conviction of empirical research as a social practice. Thereby, an ambivalence of recognition between the empowerment of (the perspectives of) those involved in research and an associated renewed fixation, for example, as persons who are seen as socially and politically disadvantaged becomes visible. Researching social inequalities can therefore also perpetuate the existing power asymmetry between persons who, as researchers, are in a socially respected position and persons who become the focus of research because of their social belongings. In two contributions, it is therefore central that the teachers involved are addressed as experts of their social world (including working and learning environments), who provide researchers access to it by sharing their views and experiences. In the study by Proyer et al. (2021) the research team consists of alumni and participants, as well as academic researchers as part of the Viennese Certificate Course for international teachers. Based on the approach of participatory research, the teachers were involved as experts in the research process. The authors report, that the different perspectives need to be constantly integrated. Recognition is put into practice by aiming to understand all involved as equal persons in the research process. In the contribution by Terhart (2021) the teachers involved are addressed as actors according to the Grounded Theory Methodology. Following the action-theoretically based scheme of the coding paradigm in the iterative coding process of Grounded Theory a heuristic is given that focuses on the strategies of the teachers involved in coping with formal and informal barriers. In the paper by Rosen and Jacob (2021) the statistical category of ‘migration background’ applied in empirical research and also in official German statistics is subjected to critical reflection on a methodological level. The authors focus on the null findings of their statistical analysis on paedagogical orientations of teachers with and without a so-called migration background. They use this result as the basis to dismantle binary coding along with the schemas of ‘with’ and ‘without’ or ‘us’ and ‘other’ according to post-migrant theory within migration research.

Together, the contributions of this Special Issue provide an overview of the debates on the teaching profession in migration societies in Europe and Australia. Taking into account the respective nation-state conditions, it emerges clearly that certain tensions are evident across the board. A recognition theory perspective, which considers recognition itself as a multidimensional and ambivalent concept, offers a possibility to highlight these tensions. As for the formal recognition of foreign teachers’ qualifications, the need for recognition is obvious and necessary to be able to work as a teacher again. International teachers deal with the associated sovereignty over their qualifications in different ways: by criticising them, by pointing out the existing qualifications through counter-speech, or by internalising professional devaluations. However, formal recognition as a teacher does not necessarily lead to social recognition, which is significant in its powerful social orders in everyday life of teachers in different European countries, interlinked with experiences of exclusion, othering and racialisation. The empirical findings can be used as a basis to elaborate recommendations to strengthen the discourse on the diversification of the teaching profession as an element of a diverse society.

This Special Issue is based on research that has been presented and discussed at ECER 2018 in Bolzano, Italy within the network 07 ‘Social Justice and Intercultural Education’. The compilation aims to highlight the relevance of the diversity of teaching workforce in Europe against the background of global mobility. We would like to thank the authors of the contributions for their excellent cooperation. We would also like to thank the Lead Editors of the EERJ for the opportunity to present the compilation of the research, the reviewers taking part in the constructive reviewing process as well as Anatoli Rakhkochkine, Chair of Diversity Education and International Educational Research at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany for assuming the role of ‘acting editor’.