As a cooperation between the Charles University Prague, the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Universtiy of Bamberg, the hereby presented PhD project focuses on subjective theories (Groeben, 1988) of educational professionals who work with migrants in the field of social pedagogy in the Czech Republic. The research project wants to find out which subjective theories and perceptions with regard to ‘foreigners’ and/or ‘otherness’ professional practitioners have.

The theoretical framework of this analysis is based on the existing research on intercultural orientation in transformation processes, especially in the socialistic and post-socialistic societies. The educational researcher Krüger-Potratz (1991), for example, has reconstructed the concept of otherness regarding the German Democratic Republic with the term ’There were no other’. Additionally, Šišková pointed out that concepts of otherness were covered with state supported collective orientations (Šišková, 2008).

Ever since the Czech Republic regained its freedom in 1989 and splitted peacefully from the Slovak Republic in 1993, it has been transforming from a socialistic and communistic into a democratic and parliamentary republic which is based on a free-market economy. In 1999 the country joined the NATO and the European Union (EU) in 2004, so as many other former communist states.

Like other Eastern European countries, the Czech Republic has transformed in the last 20 years from a country of emigration to a country of transition and immigration. The Czech Republic has traditionally been a quite homogenous country with just a small number of foreigners living there (Drbohlav, 2010). In the last years, the number of foreigners has increased. Therefore, the country is confronted with migration-related issues including illegal migration, asylum seekers and refugees, discrimination against migrants and trafficking. This seems to be a huge challenge in the Czech Republic which – on the contrary to many other European countries – doesn´t have an established immigrant tradition. Therefore, there exists only limited experience with long-term integration policy (Mareš, 2004).

Thus, issues on migration, diversity and integration have become a part of an active government policy. ‘Knowledge of the Czech language, interrelationships between the minority and the majority society, social-cultural orientation of minorities in the society and their economical independence,’ are the main priorities of the ‘Conception of the Integration of Foreigners in the Czech Republic’ (Ministerstvo vnitra ČR, 2000). Therefore, integration is now an issue for governmental and non-governmental actors and programs.

In the field of education and social work professionals have the task to initiate and organize integration processes. Thereby, they are confronted with high expectations concerning their intercultural competences. They are expected to develop flexible trans-cultural orientations for dealing with ‘otherness’ (Göhlich, 2006). This paper will reconstruct the subjective theories of the educational professionals 25 years after the change of the political regime. That can also be seen as a contribution to show the background of the socio-cultural transition and the process of the European adaptationin the Czech Republic (Szaló, 2007).

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