Language, employability and positioning in a Danish integration programme

Abstract

Abstract In many European countries, integration policies focus on getting refugees quickly into the labour market. In order to accomplish this, refugees in Denmark are placed in work internships. Based on fieldwork in an integration programme that combines mandatory Danish language classes with so-called “language internships”, where refugees do work internships for the purpose of learning Danish at work, the present study takes a critical look at discourses and positionings related to refugee access to the Danish labour market. The study finds clear evidence of an employability discourse which emphasises individual responsibility for employment while downplaying structural factors. Paradoxically, the employability discourse positions the refugees on the one hand as unemployable because of their lack of Danish language competence and hence as marginalised and relatively powerless. On the other hand, in this same discourse, they are repeatedly positioned as agents responsible for creating their own opportunities, including employment opportunities, while the language internships are constructed as a means of gaining employment and being able to leave the unemployment system. By investigating acts of positioning by participants in the integration programme and comparing them with discourses on language, work and integration in Denmark, the study concludes that despite intentions about the internships leading to employment and thus empowerment, the language internships lead to decapitalisation and marginalisation for the refugee participants.