For some time now, increasing attention has been paid to the diversification of the teaching staff and thus the variety of teachers in Europe and beyond (cf. Keane et al. 2023; Donlevy 2016; European Education Area Strategic Framework 2024). This includes, for example, preservice teachers without a university entrance qualification, who are referred to in international discourse as so-called non-traditional students, as well as teachers labeled as having a ‘migration background’, teachers of colour or teachers of socio-economically disadvantaged origin.

One approach researching teacher diversity is the reconstruction of teachers' biographical narratives, aiming to understand the specific structural conditions of teachers and teaching by taking their social position into account (Fabel-Lamla, 2018; Thoma, 2022). This way, the intervening connections between the biographical experiences and the development of a teacher's professional self can be analysed in relation to life-historically embedded convictions, the (further) development of a professional habitus or the continuity and at the same time potential crisis nature of the professional career.

While the reflection of the biographical dimension has been addressed for some time in university-based initial teacher training in Germany (e.g. Vogelsaenger, 2022), we argue that this should also be the case for the in-service training of qualified teachers in the course of their careers. Based on research with teacher trainers and teachers in trainings on language education, we show that (professional) biographical motivations are not only important when choosing a profession. They also become relevant in the course of further professionalisation. Against the background of the relevance of language for educational success it  becomes visible how biographical experiences of social differences and discrimination shape the motivations of becoming a teacher trainer in in-service teacher training on language education.

The presentation is based on data from professional biographical-narrative interviews (Schütze, 1983) conducted between 2020 and 2021 with people who had mostly trained and experienced as teachers, and who were in the process of qualifying as multipliers at the time of the interview. The narrative interview was introduced with a biographical focus on professional development. This led the interviewees to tell biographical stories about their professional careers. The narrative story was followed by an immanent and an exmanent enquiry section (see Rosenthal, 2014, p. 153, Küsters, 2019). All teacher trainers working in the project were included in the professional biographical survey. From a total of 58 biographical interviews, 20 were selected for an in-depth individual case reconstruction; the selection was made by the project team using a qualitative sampling plan (Kelle & Kluge, 2010). Based on the resulting case structures, a typology of multipliers was then developed. In line with Max Weber's ideal type as a ‘one-sided enhancement of one or a few aspects’ (Weber 1968[1904], p. 191, translation by Y.U and H.T.), the professional biographical self-presentations of the 20 selected narratives were condensed into types. Subsequently, the (professional) biographical confrontation with difference is pursued further along individual case reconstructions.

Based on a typology of motivations for becoming a teacher trainer in language education, the presentation will focus on how they negotiate social differences. First, the three types of teacher trainers will be presented. Type 1 defines a pedagogical-social claim to school and society as a central element of their (professional) biographical professional understanding. Type 2 primarily shows a (lifelong) passion for language and language education, which serves as the main justification for their role as a trainer in this field. Type 3 frames their (professional) biography and thus the activity as a teacher trainer primarily as a balancing act between various professional and private interests and circumstances. Subsequently, case studies with teacher trainers in language education will be used to show how they relate to them in their professional biographies.It becomes clear that these negotiations are not limited to a specific phase of the professional biography, but are also important in later phases and in which both disadvantage/discrimination and privilege become relevant. Based on case studies we will discuss the complex interweaving of biographical motivations and experiences of social differences and discrimination with professionalisation. The analysis highlights that the topic of language education opens up negotiations of the teacher trainers to discuss social differences on a broader level.

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