“To Get a Foot in the Door”: New Host Country Educated Immigrant Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Employability in Finland

This article sets out to find factors that promote or hinder employment opportunities for immigrant teachers educated in the host country. The data were collected through online questionnaires and focus group discussions among two student cohorts. After a year of graduating from English-medium teacher education in Finland, the employment situations ranged from full-time permanent teaching posts in Finland to unemployment. Although the majority was successful in securing at least some work, no one was teaching in mainstream classrooms in a Finnish-medium school. The scope of teaching qualifications and references from substitutions were considered factors for employment. Lacking “strong enough” Finnish skills or native English skills was experienced as the main hindrances to employment. Although generally the participants did not perceive their nationality a hindrance to employment, ‘nativeness’ in certain languages seemed to play a role. Being a native English (or sometimes another major language) speaker promoted job opportunities in international schools.