What ethnic racialized perceptions do student teachers hold about ethnic minoritized pupils in schools? Where do these perceptions originate from? And how does teacher education (re)produce and/or challenge these perceptions throughout the education? These are the central questions I explore from an anthropological approach in a PhD project at the Danish School of Education. Despite political intentions to create a Danish public school grounded in values such as “freedom of thought, equality, and democracy” (Retsinfo, §3), research on ethnicity in education shows that pupils categorized as ethnic minorities continue to face unequal opportunities for participation in school. A key explanation is that many teachers –despite often good intentions – encounter this group of pupils through ethnically racialized perceptions (e.g., Staunæs 2004/2022; Gorski 2008; Gilliam 2009). The established research field thus points to a paradox: on the one hand, racialized perceptions appear to be deeply embedded in teachers, in teaching, and in school practices (e.g., Sleeter 2017; Jaffe‑Walter 2016), yet on the other hand, they often remain invisible and unspoken (e.g., Gillborn 2008; Capello 2012).

While previous studies have predominantly examined the practices of established teachers, this project foregrounds teacher education as the main analytical field. The aim is to move attention away from the question of whether teachers hold ethnically racialized perceptions of pupils, towards how such perceptions are constructed as part of student teachers’ professional becoming. International research on ethnicity and racialization identifies teacher education as a key actor in developing more equity‑oriented practices in schools for pupils across ethnic backgrounds (e.g., Sleeter 2013; Vachon 2022; Fylkesnes et al. 2025). At the same time, studies have shown that teacher education plays a decisive role in shaping children’s educational trajectories through the perceptions that student teachers develop during their education (e.g., Lander 2011; Abdullahi et al. 2024). In a Danish context, however, the role of teacher education in relation to social inequality and marginalization in schools remains largely unexplored. Drawing on an understanding of teacher education as a central site of cultural change within schooling (Vachon 2022), this project examines how teacher education functions as a distinct pedagogical space that actively constructs specific perceptions of ethnic minoritized pupils (McLeod & Yates 2003; Youdell 2003).

I approach racialization as a social process of categorisation in which bodily, cultural, and linguistic differences are ascribed with meaning and used to identify, interpret, and subordinate the Other (Hervik 2015). In my analysis, controlling images (Ferguson 2020) serve as the central analytical lens for examining how such (imagined) differences are actively produced and naturalised through stereotypical representations circulating within institutional contexts. This perspective shifts attention away from intentional racism and towards the ways in which professionals’ understandings of “race” and ethnicity are shaped by culturally embedded images that structure prospective teachers’ perceptions of pupils. By linking ethnicity and racialization, I examine how controlling images both legitimise and attach processes of racialization to specific ethnic groups. The aim is to capture and make visible the complexity and nuances that characterise these forms of social categorisation.

Drawing on an ethnographic fieldwork conducted at two teacher education programmes, this poster presents my initial analytical findings. The analysis indicates how teachers’ internal relations, social dynamics, and cultural logics contribute to maintaining exclusionary practices and negative perceptions of ethnic minoritized pupils. The analysis shows how school placements and student teachers’ encounters with experienced teachers and teacher educators are shaped by hierarchies of experience that, through processes of power, function as controlling images. These controlling images shape what is perceived as legitimate knowledge and truth within the educational context, thereby contributing to the reproduction of negative ethnic racialized perceptions about pupils

This study employs an anthropological ethnographic approach to gain an in depth understanding of the relationship between student teachers, teacher education, and the opportunities available to ethnically minoritized pupils in school. Drawing on an anthropological tradition, the project seeks to grasp the world as it is understood locally (Hastrup 2010). I have therefore methodologically used participant observation at two teacher education institutions, as this approach simultaneously enables an engagement with the world as it is understood locally and creates space for in depth analytical reflections of complex social practices (Spradley 1980). Methodologically, I conducted six months of ethnographic fieldwork at two teacher education institutions in Denmark, following three cohorts of student teachers in their final year. I observed everyday routines both in teaching situations and during breaks, examined what student teachers and teacher educators do and talk about, and interviewed student teachers, teacher educators, and institutional leaders about their practices and perceptions - of pupils, of students, and of teaching. In addition to participant observation and qualitative interviews, I followed ten student teachers during their school placements using audiologs as a method. This approach is inspired by Line Lærke Mørck’s (2015) methodological framework, which involves the continuous exchange of voice messages between researcher and participant and functions as a methodological tool that enables engagement in the field across time and space. This method has provided access to student teachers’ practice based experiences and spontaneous reflections during their practicum in real time situations that I, as a researcher, cannot directly observe This ethnographic approach enabled close engagement with everyday life both on campus and in the practicum, providing situated and qualitative depth to the empirical material. By participating in and observing these arenas, the study gains insight into the embodied experiences, emotions, interactions, and social relations that, more or less unconsciously, shape prospective teachers’ perceptions towards ethnically minoritized pupils. Through the combination of participant observation, audiologs and qualitative interviews, my empirical material highlights not only what is done in the field but also the meanings and understandings that are attached to and construct these practices (Rubow 2010). Taken together, these methodological strategies support conducting research with participants rather than merely about them, underscoring the importance of ethical reflexivity, participant autonomy, and co created knowledge. The overall aim is to generate rich, situated insights into the institutional and social barriers and processes that continue to shape unequal opportunities for participation in schools

The project sheds light on the role of teacher education in shaping prospective teachers’ constructions of pupil categories. Through its in depth qualitative methodological approach, the project generates new knowledge that can inform the development of institutional practices in both teacher education and schools, with the aim of fostering greater social inclusion for this pupil group. Where previous research has primarily focused on established teachers (see above) or on pedagogical and didactic approaches to diversity enhancing teaching (e.g., Li & Devin 2018; Sleeter 2024), this project offers a complementary perspective on the social and institutional dynamics that shape student teachers’ perceptions of ethnically minoritized pupils. Drawing on the qualitative depth of the empirical material - centered on understandings, experiences, and practices - the project highlights the affective as well as academic barriers that influence the educational context. In doing so, the findings illuminate how student teachers are prepared to act within diverse school settings

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