Is adult education a ‘white’ business? Professionals with migrant backgrounds in Austrian adult education

Abstract

This paper is based on an applied research project, which examines the participation of migrants (first and second generation) as professionals in Austrian adult education. We present selected outcomes concerning barriers and encouraging factors in the careers of professionals with migrant background. Our main findings show the importance of the recognition of credentials, of social capital and of strategies to avoid discrimination on behalf of the institutions of adult education. Introducing the analytical perspective of critical whiteness, we conclude that Austrian adult education still has to reflect its own role in terms of white privileges. Finally we point out some approaches and strategies to widening participation and reducing discrimination in the professional field.

Popular education, migration and a discourse of inclusion

“…The role of adult and popular education for migrants is of course important to migrants in many other locations, e.g. Canada (Gibb 2015), the UK (Grayson 2014), Austria (Kukovetz and Sprung 2014) and Australia (Webb, 2015). However, Sweden differs compared to many other countries in that the level of participation in adult and popular education is high (Rubenson and Desjardins 2009) and that the institutionalisation of adult, and especially popular education, goes back as far as the mid-1800s (Laginder et al 2013).…”

Adult Migrants’ Language Training in Austria: The Role of Central and Eastern European Teachers

“…A central claim of this article is that adult education jobs, including language teaching for adult migrants, are increasingly carried out by foreign citizens under unfavourable conditions. Regarding their presence in Austria, Kukovetz and Sprung (2014) detected the substantial under-representation of migrant workers, despite looking at the first-and second-generation (im)migrant presence in the field. The post-2015 era, however, suggests a rapid increase in their proportion (See Supplementary File 1).…”

“…While the ideology of "lifelong learning" linked to adult education has been increasingly echoed in politics and policies in EU countries, since 2000, the realities of employment in the latter area have been associated with harsh working conditions, starkly contrasting with appraisals of this kind (Kreiml, 2007;Kukovetz & Sprung, 2014). A recent comparative study of presentday adult-education career prospects based on case studies from five EU countries, among them Austria, corroborated that contracts are predominantly insecure and career prospects almost entirely lacking, with the only advancement potential lying in acquiring managerial positions available to very few.…”

Migration, adult education and learning

“…In the face of such neglect, civil society and community organisations are opening spaces for welcoming migrants and developing anti-racist initiatives geared towards challenging the marginalization, segregation and racism that migrants experience in their everyday work and lives. It is also an invitation to turn the gaze within so that we become reflective of how policies and practices in adult education can be implicated (often complicit) in the (re)production of the dominant social and cultural order (Kukovetz andSprung 2014, Shan 2015a). This special issue brings together a collection of articles that explore both actions and reflections in the field of transnational migration, education and learning.…”