There has been an increase in the international mobility of teachers in recent decades (Caravatti et al. 2014) However, teacher certificates are often tied to national borders and are not (fully) recognized in other national contexts (Krause et al. 2023). This contribution suggests that the non-recognition results from the teaching profession being still a “national” profession, closely linked to the process of nation-building (Tröhler 2019).

Previous research on international teacher mobility in Germany has addressed many crucial aspects, e.g., the recognition in society (Terhart H. 2022), the acquisition of the professional language (Lialiou et al. 2024) and the recognition of their certificates (George 2021, Schüssler et al. 2023, Wojciechowicz & Vock 2024). So far, the recognition of certificates has mainly been considered from the perspective of teachers trained abroad, highlighting – amongst other things – the following aspects:

• Difficulty to provide the required documents (George 2021)
• Lack of transparency of the recognition procedure (George 2021, Wojciechowicz & Vock 2024)
• Structural differences in teacher education as decisive difference (Schüssler et al. 2023, Wojciechowicz & Vock 2024).

However, research lacks a comprehensive description of the recognition procedure from the perspective of the competent persons. This study focuses on the recognition procedure for teaching qualifications acquired abroad in Germany from the perspective of the responsible persons. This is highly relevant for two reasons: on the one hand, competent authorities have a margin of discretion when deciding about non-recognition – not only in the teaching profession (Rakhkochkine & Müller 2014, Sommer 2015). Hence, to gain a deeper understanding onto how the margin of discretion is exercised when deciding about the (non-)recognition of foreign teaching qualifications, the perspective of the responsible persons is decisive. On the other hand, since previous research suggests responsible persons’ understanding of the teaching profession is influential for the decision (Rakhkochkine & Müller 2014, Sommer 2015). However, how those responsible for recognition in Germany understand teacher professionalism remains unknown.

The study itself does not adopt one single definition of teacher professionalism but instead acknowledges the fact that there are different approaches to teacher professionalism (Terhart E. 2022), that can also be influenced by the (educational policy) context (Blömeke & Kaiser 2017; Tröhler 2019). Therefore, it is hardly possible to determine a universally valid definition. The study aims to describe the recognition practice and to reveal the understanding of teacher professionalism in the recognition procedure in Germany.  In this study, the recognition procedure is characterized as a form of teacher assessment. Two strands of educational research on teacher assessment can be distinguished (König 2020): First, the identification of a teacher’s core task in relation to the (national) context and the focus on necessary competencies to fulfill these tasks. Secondly, the analysis of the assessment, which focuses i.a. the preparation of the assessors and, in particular, the underlying conceptions of teacher professionalism. The presentation is related to the later and addresses the following questions:

• “How is the recognition procedure carried out in practice?”
• “How is teacher professionalism understood by the recognizing persons in the recognition procedure?”

The research is expected to provide a description of the recognition process by outlining both the procedure for assessing foreign qualifications and the underlying understanding of teacher professionalism, thus providing information on how decisions on (non-)recognition is made. By focusing on the reasons for (non-)recognition, the study deepens the understanding of why international/European mobility is more complicated for teachers compared to other professions (e.g., doctors).

Considering the theoretical perspective and the research questions, it was crucial to gain insight into the perspective of the assessing institutions and the individual responsible for recognition. Due to the federal responsibility for education in Germany, there are 17 different competent authorities (one of the 16 German Federal States has two competent authorities). First the websites of the competent authorities were analyzed and the responsible persons identified. Subsequently, all competent authorities were contacted and requested to participate in a study with guideline-based interviews. However, as the recognition of foreign teacher qualifications is also a controversial and politically discussed topic, only ten authorities agreed to participate. In nine authorities, guideline-based expert interviews were conducted while one authority only provided written responses. The decision to conduct guideline-based expert interviews was based on the focal points derived from theory and the current state of research. To deepen the understanding of the assessment of foreign teacher qualifications in the recognition procedure, a foreign teacher qualification was used as a vignette in the interviews (Kandemir & Budd 2018). The experts were asked to describe their procedure step-by-step using the example. The collected data will be analyzed on the basis of a qualitative content analysis, withy categories being formed both deductively and inductively (Kuckartz & Rädiker 2024). The identified themes will be used to create a table containing a summary of the studied cases. On this basis, a thick description of the recognition process is created for each case (i.a. the involved actors and the use of the margin of discretion). In a case comparisons, similarities and differences between the cases are pointed out with particular emphasis on the understanding of teacher professionalism. This makes it possible to identity statements about the (assumed) specifics of teacher professionalism in Germany.

At the time of the submission, all but one interviews have been conducted and transcribed. During the conference, the results to be presented are expected to provide a thick description of the recognition procedure, including aspects such as the preparation of those responsible for the recognition, the different actors involved in the recognition process, and the extent to which aspects such as teacher shortages in certain subjects and (educational) policy conditions influence the decision. Initial preliminary results reveal that those responsible for recognition take different approaches to exercising their margin of discretion in the procedure while all interviewed actors aim to support foreign trained teachers in pursuing a career in Germany. With regard to the understanding of teacher professionalism, initial results point to the central importance ascribed to German language skills.

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