Hybrid professionalism: multilingual cosmopolitan identities of immigrant English teachers

Abstract

Australia faces a critical teacher shortage, yet skilled migrant teachers remain marginalised due to systemic barriers. This hermeneutic phenomenological and narrative inquiry study examines the professional identities of multilingual immigrant teachers from EAL backgrounds, focusing on their experiences with linguistic discrimination and native-speakerism. The research highlights the inequities NNESTs (non-native English speaking teachers) face both pre– and post- migration and their negotiation of hybrid professional identities. Findings align with the UN High-Level Panel on Teaching Report (UN, 2024), stressing the need for targeted policies that acknowledge NNESTs’ evolving identities. To support their professional recognition, educational institutions must adopt culturally responsive pedagogies and equitable recruitment practices, enabling NNESTs to embed their linguistic and cultural expertise into hybridised teaching approaches. Incorporating Global Citizenship Education (GCE) and Human Rights Education (HRE) into teacher training provides a postcolonial framework for understanding multilingual teachers’ roles in fostering inclusive classrooms. This paper calls for a shift in teacher education and policy to recognise multilingual immigrant teachers’ contributions across professional, academic, and social domains. It urges a reconfiguration of professional roles, the dismantling of exclusionary structures, and the promotion of social justice to cultivate a more equitable and globally responsive educational landscape.