Etnisk minoritetsstuderende i mødet med læreruddannelsen: Oplevelser, postionering og mobilitet

Abstract

Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan etnisk minoritetsstuderende oplever læreruddannelsen, og hvilke faktorer der har betydning for deres mobilitet. Med afsæt i et eksplorativt casestudie kombineres semistrukturerede interviews med fire studerende og én underviser med deltagerobservation og dokumentanalyse af bl.a. studieordning og undervisningsmateriale. Specialet er forankret i et socialkonstruktivistisk videnskabsteori og anvender abduktiv logik. Analysen er teoretisk funderet i Pierre Bourdieus begreber om habitus, kapitalformer, felt og symbolsk vold og suppleres af postmigrationsteori samt intersektionalitet. Gennem tre analytiske temaer identificerer specialet centrale mekanismer, der former minoritetsstuderendes deltagelse og anerkendelse i læreruddannelsens felt. Temaerne omhandler: (1) positionering som ambassadører for deres formodede baggrund, (2) begrænset adgang til social kapital i studiemiljøet og (3) mødet med majoritetsnormer i faget Livsoplysning. Specialet viser, at etnisk minoritetsstuderende ofte må navigere i en uddannelseskontekst præget af skjulte normer, symbolske hierarkier og forventninger om repræsentation. Disse forhold har betydning for både trivsel, faglig udvikling og fremtidsmuligheder. Afslutningsvist peger specialet i et norm-rekonstruktivt perspektiv på behovet for strukturel forankring af mangfoldighed og for en pædagogisk praksis, hvor viden om forskellighed ses som en fælles opgave, og dermed ikke som et individuelt ansvar.

This thesis investigates how ethnic minority student navigate the institutional and cultural landscape of Danish teacher education, and which structural and symbolic conditions shape their opportunities for participation, recognition, and upward mobility. Situated within a social constructivist paradigm and informed by abductive reasoning, the study employs an explorative case study design combining semi-structured interviews, ethnographic observation, and document analysis. Analytically, the thesis draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological framework, specifically the concepts of habitus, field, capital, and symbolic violence, to examine how social hierarchies and implicit norms are reproduced within teacher education. This is further complemented by postmigration theory (Foroutan, Jacobsen & Padovan-Özdemir) to conceptualize how ethnic and cultural ascriptions function as structuring logics in educational encounters, and by an intersectional lens (Crenshaw) to account for the interlocking effects of ethnicity, class, and religion. The analysis identifies three key dynamics: Firstly, minority students are frequently positioned, explicitly or not, as cultural spokespersons, assigning them ambassadorial roles they did not choose. Secondly, unequal access to cultural and social capital restricts their sense of belonging and limits their navigational agency within formal and informal learning communities. Lastly, curriculum areas such as “Livsoplysning” (Life Enlightenment) tacitly privilege Western epistemologies, reinforcing a majoritarian doxa that risks marginalizing students perceived as ‘Other’. By applying a normatively reconstructive analytical strategy, the study moves beyond mere documentation of exclusionary practices to propose how teacher education can be reconfigured to better accommodate epistemic plurality and social equity. In doing so, it contributes to critical debates on the reproduction of inequality in higher education by advancing a framework for rethinking professional education in an increasingly diverse society.

A master thesis from Aalborg University

Etnisk minoritetsstuderende i mødet med læreruddannelsen: Oplevelser, postionering og mobilitet

[Ethnic Minority Student Teachers in Danish Teacher Education: Experiences, Positioning, and Conditions for Mobility]