From Policy Support to Symbolic Inclusion: Minority Teachers’ Professional Legitimacy in Israel and the Czech Republic

This study examines how contrasting minority-teacher policy trajectories are reflected in the professional experiences of Ethiopian-origin educators in Israel and Roma educators in the Czech Republic. It draws on a secondary, post-hoc comparative qualitative analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews from two independent national studies (10 participants per country). The comparison examines two policy contexts: the retrenchment of targeted support mechanisms in Israel and the long-standing absence of systematic minority-teacher support in the Czech Republic. Three themes emerged: contested professional legitimacy; cultural representation as professional resource and additional burden; and uneven access to mentoring and institutional support. Drawing on Fraser’s recognition–redistribution framework, complemented by community cultural wealth and cultural taxation, the findings reveal a policy paradox: despite different policy trajectories, minority educators may experience symbolic recognition without access to institutional resources, professional authority, and advancement opportunities. The analysis highlights school leadership as a mediating layer between national policy conditions and educators’ professional experiences, through decisions concerning mentoring, cultural responsibilities, professional development, and advancement. The study contributes to educational leadership and policy scholarship by demonstrating how contrasting policy trajectories may be reflected in comparable patterns of fragile professional inclusion and by identifying leadership practices that can reproduce or interrupt symbolic inclusion.