Lilach Marom. Re-Thinking Professionalism in a Times of Migration and Growing Diversity: The Case of Internationally Educated Teachers

28th February 2023 

15:00 - 16:30 

Location: H-202, Stakkahlíð - Menntavísindasvið 

This guest lecture is presented in English and translanguaging support is available in Icelandic. Anyone interested is welcome to join! 

Þessi gestafyrirlestur er fluttur á ensku og stuðningur við þýðingar er á íslensku. Öll eru velkomin! 

ABSTRACT: Growing linguistic, cultural, ethnic, national, and religious diversity, mainly as an outcome of migration, is a reality in most Western countries (World Population Review, 2022); yet the teaching force in these countries is still highly homogenous, composed mainly of white, middle-class women who speak the official language (Li et al., 2022). To unpack barriers to the diversification of the teaching profession there is a need to critically unpack notions of teachers’ professionalism. Internationally educated teachers (IETs), who as an outcome of current migration and refugee waves from non-Western to Western countries are often also of racialized groups and bring cultural and linguistic diversity are an asset to the teaching profession in a time of internationalisation and migration. IETs ability to recertify and find employment in a new country is an important concern for successful diversification of the teaching profession internationally; however, they face numerous challenges when attempting to re-enter the teaching profession (Marom, 2017a/b; 2019). Recertification processes, particularly in regulated professions, disseminate prevalent knowledge, local policies, and nuanced cultural norms with which newcomers to the profession may not be familiar. However, they may also reflect arbitrary practices that gained prominence within the historical construction of a certain professional field. Recertification processes often overlook the diverse knowledge and perspectives that IETs possess, and thus limit their potential to enrich and diversify the teaching profession. 

References: 

^{Li, G., Anderson, J., Hare, J., & McTavish, M. (Eds.). (2021). Superdiversity and teacher education: Supporting teachers in working with culturally, linguistically, and racially diverse students, families, and communities (1st ed.). Routledge.
Marom, L. (2019). From experienced teachers to newcomers to the profession: The capital conversion of internationally educated teachers in Canada. Teaching and Teacher Education, Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2018.11.006
World Population Review (2023). Migration by Country. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/immigration-by-country
Marom, L. (2017a). Eastern/Western conceptions of the “Good Teacher” and the construction of difference in teacher education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 46(2), 167–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2017.1399982
Marom, L. (2017b). Mapping the field: Examining the recertification of internationally educated teachers. Canadian Journal of Education, 40(3), 157–190.}