Life Pre Intermediate Second Edition Teacher 39;s Book Pdf

[Mack Mosely]

Thischapter analyses the professional choices, access to the professional field and professional experiences of tertiary-educated descendants of labour immigrants who have embraced the teaching profession. While a number of studies of socially mobile immigrant-origin adults concentrate on the resources mobilized to override the laws of social reproduction, this chapter embeds its analysis in the theoretical frame of integration context theory, which postulates that meso and macro contextual factors are of crucial importance for mobility. These factors range from general, historically evolved country-specific institutional arrangements, such as the civil service system, to targeted migrant integration policies, such as measures to recruit teachers. These dimensions are combined and synthesized in a typology of contexts. A typology of institutional opportunity structure based on these dimensions allowed us to build a comparative grid for the analysis of the rich qualitative interviews of 46 teachers of immigrant origin (TIOs) in five countries. The study emphasizes how institutional opportunity structures do or do not allow resources such as professional and ethnic networks to be relevant. By defining which attributes can be effectively mobilized by educationally successful descendants of immigrants, institutional opportunity structures shape their professional trajectory and delineate leeway for the interpretation of the professional role of TIOs.

The symbolic argument refers to the fact that teachers are entrusted with the task of contributing to the social reproduction of a society, while fostering empowerment, equality and social mobility for individual students. Such a position might be particularly satisfying for children of immigrants, outsiders whose conformity to the rules of their country of residence has often been questioned. The profession is a powerful marker of legitimate belonging.

The policy argument refers to the growing interest of academics and policy makers in a diversified teaching force as one possible way of responding to the diversified student body (Rotter, 2014; Ogay & Edelmann, 2012; Schmidt & Schneider, 2016). Teachers of immigrant origin (TIO) are the living proof that an immigration society is an open society. Furthermore, they can function as role models for immigrant-origin youth. The fact that TIOs have a migratory experience and working-class background is likely to ensure a cultural and class proximity with minority students.

Section 5.5 finally concentrates on the professional experiences of TIOs. The central questions are: how do our TIO respondents interpret their role as a teacher? In what ways do institutional factors influence the way in which they interpret their TIO role?

Each section is organized according to a similar schema: it first presents the analytical tools from the relevant literature and the research questions guiding the analysis, it then introduces elements from the fieldwork (exemplary cases) to illustrate the variety of situations encountered in the countries/contexts under scrutiny and finally it discusses the relationship between theories and the empirical evidence, delivering the interpretation of the findings. Understandably, not all 46 TIOs interviewed are presented in the paper. We selected 13 cases to account for the scope of the dimension pertinent to each section, e.g. choosing the profession, contextual settings, and agency. Hence the portrayed cases qualitatively reflect the types of situations found in the fieldwork.

The overarching comparative research question pertains to contextual factors: it addresses the relative importance of migrant-specific policies in relation to all-encompassing institutional arrangements in drawing the opportunity structure for the mobility of children of immigrants. It further analyses how those contextual factors influence which resources are relevant and can be effectively mobilized by children of immigrants accessing the teaching profession according to the specific opportunity structure they are confronted with.

Among our informants, 14 are currently working as primary school teachers, 12 are teaching at lower secondary level and 20 at upper secondary level. Nowadays, teaching is a profession that appeals mostly to women: on average two-thirds of the teachers in OECD countries are female (OECD, 2014); a feature which also applies to our TIOs interviewees, as 32 out of our 46 informants are women. Our informants are aged 30 on average.

The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Each team then submitted these texts to a content analysis supported either by an analytical grid or by software programs like MAXQDA, ATLAS.TI or Kwalitan. The present article used the coded documents developed by the Pathways teams.

This section looks at intergenerationally upward mobile pathways by retracing how children of immigrants converted their educational achievements into labour market positions and by analysing their motives for choosing teaching as a career.

The primary and secondary school teachers in our sample have a similar social background, in contrast with the literature on teachers in general. The interviewed teachers of immigrant origin have a working-class background. The parental level of education is unsurprisingly low, once more exemplifying the literature finding that the teaching profession is an open avenue of social mobility for children from underprivileged milieus.

Yet the educational trajectories of teachers at primary and secondary level are somewhat different: non-linear paths are more frequent among primary school teachers than among secondary school staff. Being assigned to lower educational tracks such as pre-vocational schools or dropping out are setbacks that are also found among upper secondary school teachers like Saladin, albeit to a much lesser extent. Youth of immigrant origin often mention difficulties during their time at school, ranging from teasing and mocking to bullying and discrimination.

Naturally, findings on ranked motivations of pre-service teachers are not proper terms of comparison for interpreting the frequency of fall-back options among our in-service TIOs. Yet, the gap between a least valued motive and the recurrent mention of this type of decision in our TIOs sample is a striking indication of the specific situation of our committed minority teachers, matching the first type identified by Wong. They had hesitated several times before taking the decision to enter the teaching profession, after coming to terms with disillusionment and abandoned dreams, especially if they had encountered obstacles towards achieving their professional aspirations. Their career choice is mainly symptomatic of frustrations and hurdles rather than a lack of commitment to their current teaching profession. This second-best career choice is not a matter of individual motivational deficit but points towards painful individual readjustments and challenging labour market access even for successful children of immigrants, framed by larger societal conditions, such as minority status, social origin, opportunity structures and economic and labour market conditions.

Results concerning educational trajectories and professional choices show that TIOs travel along similar pathways across countries; this is not surprising as the analysis was mainly conducted at the micro and meso level. Moreover, the methodological set up of the study, selecting respondents on the dependent variable of educational success tends to black out relevant country differences observed in studies of educational careers (Crul et al. 2012b).

In the job system, recruitment and selection are highly decentralized and function-oriented. Individuals are recruited for a specific position, are subject to general employment legislation, and may not always benefit from job security. Such a system ensures great flexibility and enables the externalization of tasks. This system highly resembles what is practised in the private sector. This job system, typical for Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries, is also practised to a certain extent in Switzerland and the Netherlands (Eurydice., 2012, 116).

The German civil service combines characteristics of both systems. On one hand, there is a comprehensive and uniform hierarchy of legal norms establishing a country-wide framework of career categories and insuring clear standardization and job security. On the other hand, decisions on recruitment, personnel deployment, in-service training and promotion are very much decentralized (Goetz, 2000). Differences are found not only between Lnder, but also within Lnder.

The civil service systems determine the mechanisms for allocating teachers to a school. Whereas in all countries under study, teacher training includes some form of traineeship, the effects of internships on gaining access to a stable workplace vary according to the type of civil service model. In job system countries, internships provide an arena where a prospective teacher can build up a professional network that may be instrumental when looking for a job; therefore, this system opens up margins for individual action. In career system countries, internships have no bearing on the further allocation of teachers, as competitive examinations leave no leeway to influence where they will practice their profession. These general institutional features impact teaching careers as they determine conditions and entry procedures into the workplace and define the scope for individual action.

Yet entry procedures are not only determined by general institutional arrangements but also by educational policies aiming at improving the educational performance of migrant-origin pupils. Some measures directed at reaching this goal focus specifically on teachers. To identify the main features of these policies and their variability across the countries under study, we rely on the Migrant Integration Policy Index. The MIPEX index is a comparative tool measuring policies promoting the integration of third-country nationals in some 38 countries ( ) and education is one of the eight policy areas covered by the index.Footnote 4

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