Turkish and Kurdish Speaking Teachers in the Danish Folkeskole: the ambiguous concept of equality

Abstract

The proportion of ethnic minority teachers in the Danish folkeskole who are graduates of a Danish college of education has risen steadily over the last decade. This article describes the functions that Turkish and Kurdish speaking minority teachers are supposed to perform and goes on to discuss the effect those functions have on their chances of being accepted on an equal footing with Danish majority teachers. Despite their Danish teaching qualifications, the article reaches the conclusion that minority teachers are still appointed to attend to specific tasks to do with the integration of Turkish and Kurdish speaking minority pupils. Furthermore, they occupy a subordinate position in relation to the majority teachers and face the dilemma that neither their general professional qualifications nor their bilingual and cultural qualifications are acknowledged. It will be argued that equality is an ambivalent concept, best understood in relation to the cultural and structurally conditioned differences between the two types of teachers.