Language, employability and positioning in a Danish integration programme

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.

Language policy at an abortion clinic: linguistic capital and agency in treatment decision-making

“…In line with Lønsmann’s ( 2020 ) findings on refugees’ integration on the Danish labour market, in our abortion clinic context too we believe to identify what Roberman ( 2015 ) has called ‘exclusive inclusion’. This is a specific type of exclusion “which limits access to social resources of real value and to participation in the arenas of social recognition and belonging” (Roberman, 2015 : 759–760).…”

Suomenoppijoiden toimijuus kotoutumiskoulutuksen yksilöllisissä ratkaisuissa

“…Sandwallin (2013) mukaan Ruotsissa Svenska för invandrare -koulutuksen työssäoppimisjaksolla ruotsia käytettiin hyvin vähän, muun muassa koska kieli nähtiin työkaluna eikä oppimiskohteena. Tanskassa useimmat kielenoppijat eivät ajatelleet oppineensa tanskaa kieliharjoittelussa, esimerkiksi yksin työskentelyn vuoksi (Lønsmann 2020;ks. yksin työskentelevien kielenoppimismahdollisuuksista Strömmer 2017).…”

“…yksin työskentelevien kielenoppimismahdollisuuksista Strömmer 2017). Harjoittelut suoritetaan usein matalapalkka-aloilla, sillä työssäoppimispaikkoja on vaikea löytää (Lønsmann 2020). Yhteenvetona voi todeta, että kielenoppiminen työelämäjaksolla riippuu opiskelijan itsensä lisäksi esimerkiksi työssäoppimispaikan tarjoamasta tuesta ja siitä, tarvitaanko tehtävissä kielellistä vuorovaikutusta (ks.…”

Speeding up, slowing down. Language, temporality and the constitution of migrant workers as labour force

“…Individuals' capacity to become fully emancipated workers depends on the dynamics of the labour market (Kraft 2019a), and the racial, gendered and classed understandings of who counts as a good worker (Flubacher 2020b) including what price should be attached to whose labour and what practices need to be identified as labour at all (Flubacher 2020a;Hassemer 2019). Scholars have noted that these understandings of (language) education are a condition for access that make individuals responsible for their successes and failures (Del Percio 2017;Lønsmann 2020).…”