Teacher representations of school inequalities experienced by immigrant students: issues for teacher training?

In this contribution, our focus is on the analysis of teachers' representations of the management of cultural diversity in the French-speaking Belgian education system. Indeed, in this system, students from immigrant backgrounds experience major inequalities (school segregation and relegation). These students express a strong sense of injustice in questionnaires on discrimination. While there are many studies on student perceptions, little research has been done on teacher perceptions. These representations are therefore an important lever for action in teacher training (awakening to and awareness of stereotypes and reflection on pedagogical practices). In Belgium, not only do school personnel have little training in the management of cultural diversity, but general education policies do not include this dimension in their guidelines. We subsequently conducted a survey of 50 teachers to identify: 1) how aware they were of the inequalities experienced by students with an immigrant background; and 2) their causal attribution mechanisms in terms of these students' educational backgrounds (to what do they attribute these students' academic success or failure?). The analysis of the results highlights the lack of teacher awareness of inequalities and a connection to internal attributions (school success is attributed to students' skills and abilities). On the other hand, perceiving inequalities allows for the development of external and system-related attributions. These results are contemplated with regard to the issues of teacher training.