With regard to the global educational agenda as well as various understandings of inclusive education “in different systemic, socio-economic and cultural contexts” (Artiles & Dyson, 2005, 43) inclusive teacher education faces several tensions: For instance, broader notions of diversity stand in contrast to teacher education programmes which “emphasise differences between sectors and different kinds of learners” (Florian & Camedda, 2020, 5). The latter reflects an “bell-curve thinking about ability” (Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2011, 813) questioned by inclusive education. Accompanying calls for critical reflections on constructions of ability and the “production of able-ness” (Campbell 2008, 4) are situated in university contexts characterized by strives for excellence. This includes e.g. a “predominance of a neoliberal framing of responsibilisation” (Keddie et al, 2020, 95).

Taking into account the relationship between teachers’ notions of classroom diversity and their personal and professional biographies (Everington et al., 2011) results from van Doodewaard and Knoppers (2021, 13) on preservice teachers in physical education indicated that these “sense a need for change yet embrace the conditions and performative systems that produce inequities” – not only with regard to their students’ lives but also their own, applying “similar ideals concerning performative ability, self-adjustment and gender”. Concerning teacher education students’ abilities tensions also arise from an at least implicit deficit-oriented view on students who choose a teaching career, for instance, in calls for recruiting “more ‘top’ graduates into teaching” (Braun, 2014, 1). In this context, Braun (2014, 1) emphasizes the importance to analyse “the interplay of gendered, classed and ‘raced’ biographies in relation to individuals’ decisions to become teachers”. Based on her results teaching might be a way of “reconciling working classness” (Braun, 2014, 10.). This can also be linked to a recently increased debate on diversity at universities, e.g. with respect to so called non-traditional students (Padilla-Carmona et al., 2020).

The paper focusses on pathways to teaching and questions of diversity based on a qualitative study on teacher education students’ biographies in Germany. Diversity as an analytical perspective (Sievers et al., 2013) sensitizes for different ‘lines of differences’, their intersections (Crenshaw, 1989) and reproducing “structures of power and inequality” within a “nonreflective recognition of differences” (Ploesser & Mecheril, 2012, 799). While questions of diversity are not a central topic to previous studies on choosing a teaching career in Germany, there has been an increased focus on “Diversity in the teachers’ lounge” (Rosen & Jacob, 2021) in the last years. However, most studies focus on certain ‘lines of differences’ or student groups. Concerning research on minority teachers (see on European level: Donlevy et al., 2016) Rosen and Jacob (2021) question the usefulness of ‘migration background’. Not only considering this category, qualitative research faces “perils of reification” (Kertzer, 2017).

To avoid labelling by constructing certain groups of students, the project „Pathways to Teaching – (Educational) Biographies of Teacher Education Students“ draws on a reconstructive biographical research approach which takes teacher education students’ life-historical constructions as a starting point. The qualitative study aims to empirically analyse educational stories, understandings of belonging and positions with regard to their complexity and ambiguity in a contextualised way (Dausien, 2009). The overall research question is: What are the specific pathways and experiences of teacher education students and orientation developed from this? Following this, further questions e.g. on relevant ‘lines of differences’ and their intersections, constructions of belonging as well as on their relevance for inclusion and exclusion processes arise. Furthermore, we are interested in the ways constellations of difference are relevant with regard to complexities of reconstructed ‘choices’ for a teaching career.

The ongoing project “Pathways to Teaching” is carried out at the Leibniz School of Education at university of Hanover. Four Master’s students participate in the data collection and analysis within their Special Education curriculum (project module/master’s thesis). The interviews were conducted based on principles of the biographical-narrative interview (Rosenthal, 2018). This aims to give “the interviewees maximum freedom to present their experiences in their own way, and to develop their own perspective with regard to their life story or the given topic” (Rosenthal, 2018, S. 134). Within sampling we tried to broaden our search for possible interviewees by using several strategies (e.g. e-learning platform, website, teaching staff). Within these strategies, we deliberately did not refer to certain diversity aspects or ‘lines of difference’. However, (potential) interviewees might nevertheless link our study to questions of diversity e.g. with regard to our previous research and teaching in the field of inclusive and diversity education. So far, 19 interviews with teacher education students from different universities have been conducted. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some of them were online interviews. With regard to the different teacher education programmes or “types of teaching careers” (KMK, 2019, 196) in the German context the sampling includes students from general education (for primary education or for upper secondary education/Gymnasium), special education and vocational education. The sampling includes teacher education students from different phases of their study programme at Bachelor’s or Master’s level. Based on a “global analysis” (Rosenthal, 2015, 82) six interviews were selected for closer analysis. Analysis is guided by principles of biographical case reconstruction (Rosenthal, 2018). This aims to reconstruct “both the former biographical meaning of the past experiences and the meaning of the self-presentation in the present” (Rosenthal, 2018, 167).

The biographical approach allows to reconstruct how participation and belonging are constructed in the individual case. By thus, the project addresses the needs of a reflective approach to researching diversity (Bührmann, 2020), especially with regard to the aforementioned “perils of reification” (Kertzer, 2017). Based on first results of the project “Pathways to Teaching” the paper explores the relevance of ‘lines of differences’ and their interconnections based on teacher education students’ biographies. As outlined above, tensions between broader notions of diversity in inclusive teacher education and emphasis on learner’s differences in teacher education programmes arise. Looking at pathways to teaching in the German context the highly selective school structure is of relevance for a contextualized understanding. We are interested in constructions of ‘ability’ concerning teacher education students’ former biographical meaning of the past as well as their self-presentation in cases in which they refer to ‘difficulties’ in their own school career or a rather ‘smooth’ transition from advanced secondary school (Gymnasium) to university. Furthermore, we are interested in teacher education students’ understanding of ‘fitting in’ with a teaching career and, as e.g. family reactions to choosing a teaching career might differ (Braun, 2014), the relevance of views of significant others. By way of example, questions of ‘becoming a (good) teacher’ on the one hand are situated in teacher education students’ biographical experiences of both school and university education with their national specifics. On the other hand, accompanying questions for instance with regard to underlying ideal of ‘the Entrepreneurial Self’ (Bröckling, 2016) contribute to a further understanding of tensions arising from competing global agendas. By thus, our results raise questions which appear relevant for European and international discussions on tackling challenges of inclusive teacher education.

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