Abstract
As the educational system has become more and more attuned to the needs of students with a migration background, there' s meanwhile also a growing recognition that integrating academically qualified refugee and migrated teachers could positively respond to challenges as a) coping with the diversity of pupils, b) reducing the lack of teachers, and c) executing in concrete the joint responsibility for the work force integration. Building on this recognition, we move beyond a purely affirmative narrative by critically examining the experiences of international teachers. Thereby, we specially focus on project settings that specially aim to complement formal recognition procedures and support the integration of these teachers into the education system. Such projects as e. g. “IGEL – Integration and Equity for International Teachers" at the University of Education Weingarten, Germany. It serves as a case example to discuss areas of tension that showcase forms of structurally embedded unequal treatment. We illustrate this by a) outlining the situation of academic recognition for teaching qualifications, b) presenting the project, c) providing insights into the everyday lives of iTs, based on selected findings as well as d) arguing that even within settings explicitly designed to mitigate existing integration barriers, subtle patterns of discrimination are embedded why we advocate for a reflective approach along the framework of diversity management.