IAFOR Journal of Education: Inclusive Education

Volume 9 – Issue 1 – 2021

African Immigrant Teachers Teaching Young EFL Learners:
A Racial Discrimination Study
Chinaza Solomon Ironsi
Near East University
Turkey59

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Abstract
Teaching English language to young learners in an English as a Foreign Language/English asa Second Language context could be challenging especially for African immigrants, as they
face varying arrays of challenges ranging from low wages, staff abuse, and other racial
discriminations. A lot has been written about racially related issues in our school system yetthere are limited works of literature that focus on the challenges of African immigrant English
as a Second Language teachers with regards to racial discrimination. To investigate this, a
mixed-method research design was used to elicit information from 68 African immigrantEnglish as a Second Language teachers, teaching young English as a Foreign Language
learners in 3 countries. The participants were purposively chosen after obtaining written andoral consent from them. A structured questionnaire and semi-structured interview questions
were instruments for data collection. Reliability and validity checks were carried out before
administering the questionnaire. After analysis, a notable finding was that African immigrantteachers felt unaccepted by the host communities and this made it difficult for the English as a
Second Language learners to listen to classroom instructions given by these immigrantteachers. Again, the parents of these learners find it difficult to accept African immigrantteachers teaching their children as they deemed them incompetent to teach them. Other findingsof the study were vital in making pedagogical conclusions on racial discrimination issues
encountered by African immigrant English as a Second Language teachers. The ways forward
for an all-inclusive educational system devoid of ethnic, religious, sexuality and racial issues
were suggested.
Keywords: African immigrants, English as a foreign language, English as a second language,
inclusive education, racial discrimination, racism

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Introduction
Research on all-inclusive education has a long tradition, yet it seems that a lot of these studies
focus on learner- centered issues of color, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, culture, religion,
disability and many more. For decades, one of the most popular ideas in social justice related
educational literature is the idea that everyone, regardless of color or race, should benefit
equally from educational services without discrimination or any form of social injustice (Shumet al., 2020). Recent developments have revealed that African immigration statistics increased
over the years resulting from individuals of other countries moving from their location todifferent destinations especially to the US, UK, and across Europe (Clemens et al., 2018; Fouka
et al., 2020; Ousey & Kubrin, 2013). It is recorded that in the United States alone, the African
immigration population grew to over 47 million in 2015 which represents over 18% of 244
million immigrants all over the world (Organization for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment, 2015). Switzerland and Canada have 24.9% and 21.9% of the entire world
immigrants (Österreichischer Integrationsfonds, 2016) which shows the popular destinationsof these immigrants. Because of this growing African immigrant populace, there is a highdemand for job and employment even though a lot of countries promulgate special labor
policies that make the employment of these African immigrants difficult (Huot et al., 2020;
Udah et al., 2019).
In the past several decades, the United Nations has played an important role in ensuring that
immigrants all over the world are treated with care as they acknowledge that most of them
could be victims of war and economic hardship from Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Libya,
Somalia and many other countries (OECD, 2015; Rattansi, 2020). The calls for equality andsocial justice have continued, especially with regards to employment and acceptance of these
African immigrants into the societies into which they have migrated. Though these calls havebeen consistent, little has been achieved, especially in education, as stories of forced labor,
payment inequalities, abuse, rape and racism continue to hover. Many writers have written inthis field in a bid to expose the ills happening to migrant parents and their children living
abroad, yet it seems that little or nothing is being done to minimize the level of abuse,discrimination and educational social injustice meted out to these African immigrants (DeCuirGunby, 2020; Maguire-Jack et al., 2020; Park et al., 2020). This field of study is sometimes
referred to as educational social justice, yet it is a field of study that deals with issues of abuse,
racism, and violence against people of color. This field has gradually broadened to cover
African immigrants’ children and their parents living abroad. A new dimension of this study
focuses on African migrant English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers who are living andworking abroad, facing terrible working conditions while working with their colleagues ofdifferent races and ethnicity.
Specifically, it is tougher for immigrants from an ESL country (English is a national language)
who are to teach children from an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) country (English is
not a native language) as there have been several recorded issues of abuse and racist
discrimination in these areas (Kachru, 1992; Woo et al., 2020). Several countries havepromoted employment policies which specify jobs that migrants can do and the ones theycannot do (Hayes et al., 2020; Wingfield & Chavez, 2020), again emphasis being placed on
certain salary ranges of African immigrants and working conditions while working abroad(Shum et al., 2020). Studies have shown that these policies have never considered educational
qualification or different arrays of competencies before making such policies (Bastos et al.,2014; Joseph et al., 2020; Rattansi, 2020). A previous study suggests that countries hosting
African migrants deserve a right to protect and provide jobs/ employments to their citizens yet

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embracing the doctrine of equality and social justice to treat others equally and in fairness(Henson et al., 2013; Renyet al., 2020).
A myriad of problems continues to arise from underpayment, abuse, long hours of work, andissues of discrimination in the workplace (Bayor, 2018; Esses, 2020; Zhou et al., 2016). Thisis a complex problem that requires urgent attention as there is little or no previous research
focusing on issues affecting African immigrant ESL teachers and their challenges. There has
been less previous evidence in the literature that unveils these issues as it seems that mostworks of literature focus largely on discrimination and abuse related issues as affecting
immigrants from different ethnic groups. One way to overcome these problems is throughthorough research which may help alleviate if not eradicate these issues of racial discrimination
among African immigrants. The aim of this study was to examine and investigate thechallenges of African immigrant ESL teachers teaching EFL learners, eliciting informationfrom them on their challenges at work. This will foster social justice and ensure all-inclusive
education both for the students and the teachers.
Literature Review
Literature on all-inclusive education strongly suggests embracing equity and equality for all
across the educational sector. Many authors have argued that maintaining ethnic homogeneitywith regards to citizens working in their country versus immigrants working abroad has
continued to be an issue of serious debate (Arendt, 2020; Small & Pager, 2020; Wingfield &Chavez, 2020). For example, recent research suggests that job applicants with foreign-sounding
names have 30% of less chances of getting jobs in Belgium as compared to the ones with
African-sounding names (Statistik Austria, 2017), yet previous research showed that in the
Netherlands, especially around 2015, out of 4 recruiting agencies, three are likely to recruit
white employees rather than foreigners whereas African immigrants are less likely to be
employed in same job regardless their qualifications (Arseneault, 2020; OECD, 2016; Park etal., 2020; Statistik Austria, 2017). Again, seminal contributions have been made by educational
researchers on social justice related topics and they assert that in countries like Finland, United
Kingdom and other European countries, job and employment opportunities do rely mostly on
tedious and informal process that are difficult for ethnic minorities (Edwards & Ortega, 2016;
Statistik, 2017).
Furthermore, certain labor policies ensure that qualified African immigrants are not employed(Arendt, 2020; Bevelander, 2020; Brell et al., 2020).For example, in Denmark, United
Kingdom, and Spain, high rates of over-qualification cases exist, African immigrants areusually under-represented in managerial positions and in Germany they are represented inlowest ranks of the earnings with 25% income less than the national net income (Devakumar
et al., 2020; Maguire-Jack et al., 2020;Statistik Austria, 2017). There have been numerous
studies that investigated and unveiled that people of African descent and immigrants in
Portugal are over-represented in the secondary labor market with low skills, fewer
opportunities, job insecurities, and low salaries (Wingfield & Chavez, 2020;Small & Pager,2020), yet it is reported that 28% of migrant women of African descent hold a university degreecompared to 28% of Spanish women without appropriate competencies and qualifications(Huijnk & Andriessen, 2016; Kim et al., 2020; United Nations, 2015; Small & Pager, 2020).
Previous studies have also shown clearly that in Poland and Cyprus, African immigrant
workers do earn less as compared to citizens (Department of Industrial and Employment
Relations, 2014; United Nations, 2015).

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However, while there are other looming issues in language teaching and learning like student
engagement strategies for online education, anxiety related issues, and the need for improved
language teaching methodologies (Diane, 2019; Hanifa, 2018; Ironsi, 2020), several studies
reiterate that racial prejudice and discrimination issues continue to loom. Prior researchsuggests that in Estonia and Hungary, African refugees have been severely exploited by theiremployers and colleagues, and there are other cases where African refugees experience racial
abuse at work (Edwards & Ortega, 2016; United Nations, 2015). In Ireland, there are 31% ofracism –related issues, 40% of these cases are affiliated with victims being Muslim or African(BBC News, 2017; Department of Industrial and Employment Relations, 2014). Studies have
explored challenges of ESL teachers working abroad, and they affirm that issues of racial
discrimination are still lingering in developed countries which should be leading in the fightagainst racial injustices in their societies (Arseneault, 2020; Newton et al., 2020). Yet it is well
documented in studies that racial related issues are visible among non-native teachers teachingabroad, most of these studies have claimed that ESL teachers experience difficulties while
trying to teach abroad, these difficulties are mainly on issues of injustices at workplace,underpayment, racial abuse and other social injustices (Newton et al., 2020; Rao & Chen, 2020;
Schlein, 2020).
Present Study
Literature has shown that issues of racial discrimination in workplaces, as faced by African
immigrants, continue to grow rapidly over the years. Some authors have also suggested thatwhile host countries of African migrants ensure adequate employment opportunities for theircitizens, employment opportunities with equitable salary scale and appropriate working
conditions should be made available for migrants (Kang & Harvey, 2020; Park et al., 2020).
Several authors have recognized that proper labor policies should be made to reduce andpossibly eliminate issues of racial discrimination among the African teaching workforce inother countries (DeCuir-Gunby, 2020; Starck et al., 2020). Studies of equity in the workplace
are well documented, it is also well elaborated in literature that special positions, either
administrative or managerial, should not be open for only citizens rather for all in the workforce(Pizarro & Kohli, 2020; Starck et al., 2020). For example, research has provided evidence forthe disparity in wages, working hours, and conditions of African immigrant workers (Bastos etal., 2014; Henson et al., 2013; Sheehan et al., 2019). While a lot has been written on social
injustices affecting African immigrants, it seems that little has been known with regards toAfrican immigrant ESL teachers teaching young EFL learner at EFL countries. Several
questions regarding racial discrimination and social injustice among African ESL teachers
teaching in EFL countries to a larger extent remain to be addressed. One way to address thesegaps would be to conduct a study that investigates the challenges of African immigrant ESL
teachers teaching EFL learners in EFL countries. Additional studies to understand more
completely the key tenets of all-inclusive education focusing on African immigrant ESL
teachers, especially with regards to racial discrimination related issues, are required. This willassist in ascertaining if these cases of racial discrimination are experienced by African
immigrant ESL teachers or not. To discuss this topic thoroughly, 3 research questions were
investigated:
1. What are racial discrimination related issues at your workplace as an ESL teacher?
2. What are your opinions as an ESL teacher on racial discrimination at your workplace
while teaching English to young EFL learners?
3. What are your personal experiences as an ESL teacher concerning racial
discrimination in the workplace while teaching EFL learners?

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MethodResearch Design
A mixed-method research design that makes use of questionnaires and interviews in collecting
both qualitative/quantitative data was adopted for this study. This research design was deemed
fit for this study as it will assist in eliciting information from the participants on theirexperiences and opinion on racial discrimination in the workplace especially as teachers ofAfrican descent. The study was carried out over two years to ensure adequate data collection
from the participants residing in different EFL countries. Three immigration destinations for
African immigrants were chosen for this study: Turkey, North Cyprus, and Luxembourg. The
study made use of research assistants for data administration and collection.
Participants
Three groups of participants were recruited for the study; they include African immigrants
residing in Turkey, North Cyprus, and Luxembourg. 68 participants were purposively chosen
to participate. Inclusion criteria for participants to be selected were:
•
•
•
•
•
•

All participants must be African immigrants;
The participants must be residents of Turkey, North Cyprus, or Luxembourg;
The participants must be English language teachers;
The teachers must have been teaching English language for a minimum of 5 years;
All participants must have originated from African ESL countries;
All participant must provide oral and written consent to participate in the study before
its commencement.

During the interview session, the identities of the participants were coded for anonymity
purposes as G1 to G23 for participants from Turkey, D1 to D15 for participants from North
Cyprus, and B1 to B30 for participants from Luxembourg.
Data Collection
Questionnaires and interviews were the major instruments for data collection. The
questionnaires were adapted from the workplace discrimination inventory (WDI) and everyday
discrimination scale (EDS). The inventory was restructured and re-worded to meet theobjectives of this particular study. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. Part A focusedon eliciting information about racial discrimination-related issues in the workplace, while Part
B focused on the opinions of participants about racial discrimination in the workplace. Part A
was a Likert scale of Always (5) Often (4) Sometimes (3) Rarely (2) Never (1) while part B
was a Likert scale of (5) Strongly agree (4) Agree (3) Neutral (2) Disagree (1) Strongly
disagree.
This instrument was face validated by three experts from a private university residing in thethree countries adopted for this study. Afterwards, the instrument was piloted with 15 African
ESL immigrant teachers residing in North Cyprus who were randomly chosen. After analyzing
the result from the pilot study, a Cronbach alpha index of 0.88 was obtained which was anindication that the instrument was reliable to measure what it intended to measure. This was
finally adopted as the instrument and utilized for the study.
The interview questions were also reviewed by 2 university lecturers before use. The interview
questions were derived from the last research questions which focus on the personal
experiences of the participants on racial discrimination at work. 15 participants randomly
chosen from the three countries were recruited for the interview session. The researcher

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ensured that 5 participants were equally chosen across the 3. They were coded for anonymity.
The interview sessions were carried out through the use of Zoom due to the distance between
the researcher and the participants. Permission was obtained from the interviewees to record
all the sessions before commencing the interview. An extra recorder was used to prevent data
loss, and the interview lasted for 2 hours 56mins 20 secs.
Data Analysis
After administering the questionnaire, data were collected and analyzed using descriptive
statistics to determine mean responses of the participants on the question items. while theinterview was analyzed through thematic analysis. The questions were transcribed andanalyzed by uncovering themes that occur at regular frequencies. The researcher familiarized
himself with the themes, then the themes were coded, analyzed, and presented in tables. The
results obtained from the study are presented below.
Findings and Results
RQ 1: What are racial discrimination related issues at your workplace as an ESL
teacher?
Table 1: Mean responses on racial discrimination related issues at the workplace
Scale
Parents of student ask question and complain about my competence
I am accepted easily by the educational community
I work more hours than other colleagues at my workplace
More duties are assigned to me than to other colleagues
There is a disparity in wages paid to me compared to others
I experience racism from other colleagues
I experience racist comments from student
I am treated differently from others by the management
I am not promoted like others from a different race or ethnic group
Labor policies are implemented equitably across all race/ethnic groups

N
68
68
68
68
68
68
68
68
68
68

M
4.12
2.25
4.80
4.72
4.37
4.52
4.23
4.54
2.08
2.66

SD
0.32
1.76
0.49
0.52
0.54
0.63
0.58
0.34
1.72
1.34

N: Number of Participants, M: Mean, SD: Standard Deviation

Table 1 presents the mean responses of participants on the racial discrimination related issues
they faced at their workplace. When the participants were asked the extent to which parents ofstudents asked questions or complained about their competence, a mean value of 4.12 (0.32)
was obtained which was an indication that the participants thought that parents of students
often did so. With regards to how easily they are accepted by the educational community, amean value of 2.25 (1.76) was obtained showing that they were rarely accepted by theeducational communities of their host countries. In terms of working hours, assigning more
duties and disparity in wages paid to African migrant teachers, a mean value of 4.80 (0.49),
4.72 (0.52), and 4.37 (0.54) were obtained which was an indication that the participants
experienced these racist attitudes and dispositions at their workplace. Again, with regards toissues of racism by colleagues, racist comments by a student, being treated differently bymanagement, a mean value of 4.52(0.63), 4.23(0.58), and 4.54 (0.34) was obtained for these
items.

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A mean value of 2.08(1.72) was obtained when the participants were asked if they were
promoted as compared with other colleagues. Their response does show that they were notgiven promotions as compared to other colleagues. With regards to equitability inimplementation of labor policies across all races and ethnic groups, a mean value of 2.66 (1.34)
was obtained which indicates that there was never fairness and equitability towards theimplementation of labor policies in their host countries.
RQ2: What are your opinions as an ESL teacher on racial discrimination in yourworkplace while teaching English to young EFL learners?
Table 2. Mean responses on opinions of participants on racial discrimination at workplace
Scale
I can express different opinions without major conflict at work
I witness issues of racial discrimination at my workplace
I have problems talking with co-workers who are different from me
I have problems being listened to by students different from my color
My students adhere to my instructions while teaching
I feel comfortable discussing with my students’ parents
My students’ parents accept the way I teach their children
I am treated fairly regardless of my color and identity
We receive equal wages with other colleagues
I am treated fairly with regards to extra working hours

N
68
68
68
68
68
68
68
68
68
68

M
2.50
4.52
4.62
4.11
1.80
1.19
1.45
2.60
2.57
1.65

SD
1.58
0.66
0.52
0.42
1.57
1.82
1.58
1.52
1.59
1.75

N: Number of Participants, M: Mean, SD: Standard Deviation

Table 2 presents the responses of participants on their opinions on racial discrimination in theworkplace. The table shows that when the participants were asked if they were able to express
different opinions without major conflict at work, a mean value of 2.50 (1.58) was obtained
which indicates that they could not express their opinions without conflict at the workplace.
With regards to witnessing issues of racial discrimination at the workplace, having problems
talking with co-workers different from them, and listening to by students of a different color,a mean value of 4.52(0.66), 4.62(0.55), and 4.11(0.42) was obtained which shows that theparticipants agreed that they faced racial discriminations at the workplace, had problems
talking with co-workers and had issues were students would not listen to them as a result of
their color. Also, it is obvious through the table that the participants thought that the students
did not adhere to their instructions, the participants did not feel comfortable discussing withparents of student neither did the parents of the student accept the way they teach, a mean valueof 1.80(1.57), 1.19(1.82) and 1.45(1.58) was obtained for these items. With regards to being
treated fairly in the workplace and receiving equal wages with other colleagues, a mean valueof 2.60(1.52) and 2.57(1.59) was obtained for these items which is a suggestion that theparticipants disagreed on these items. Also, they were not treated fairly with regards to extra
working hours at the workplace, a mean value of 1.65(1.75) was obtained which indicates this.

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Interview Results
RQ3: What are your personal experiences as an ESL teacher concerning racial
discrimination in the workplace while teaching EFL learners?
Table 3. Personal experiences of African ESL teachers concerning racial discriminationin the workplace?
ThemesDifferent labor policies across race/ ethnic groupMore working hours for African teachers
The disparity in wages across race/ ethnic group
Acceptance among colleagues
Students do not listen to African teachers

f
11
9
9
6
8

A careful observation of Table 3 shows that 5 themes were extracted from the interviewees’
responses to their experiences about racial discrimination at the workplace. The themes
extracted include: different labor policies across race/ ethnic groups; more working hours for
African migrant teachers; disparity in wages across race/ ethnic groups; acceptance amongcolleagues; students listen less to African teachers. The table shows that there were different
labor policies across different race and ethnic groups, a further indication of this is shown inthe comments of interviewees.
It was so glaring that they implemented different labor laws on us becauseof our race and color… this is unacceptable (G20).
…a lot has been said about racial discrimination but it is obvious that
their labor laws do not replicate that (G17).
while protecting jobs for your citizens, you must take care of the working
class regardless of their color and race but this is practiced here (B26).
Again, while the participants complained about the differences in labor policy across race andethnic groups, they emphasized that it was so evident that they work for longer hours thanothers in the same workplace yet most labor policies tend to favor others.
We are here working for longer hours and yet we get little or nothing as
pay compared to our colleagues with similar competence andqualification like us, they get well paid (D14).
We are not different in any way, we all are humans and deserve to betreated fairly, I put in more hours at the workplace than my colleagues yet
it seemed they are better favored than me, this demotivates me but there
is nothing I can do about it (D1).
It is unfair to think that we put in more working hours as compared to ourcolleagues yet they get a fair wage than us, yet most policies favor them,this is not appropriate (G4).
It was obvious that the African migrant teachers put in longer working hours yet they feelcheated by the labor policies. Their comments were pointers to the fact that despite the long67

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hours of work, there were issues of wage disparity. An interviewee narrated his ordeal withregards to wages:
I worked severally in a lot of institutions here and it is so clear that there
are differences in the wages of migrants especially blacks as compared to
the white. I worked in a school and they paid me less regardless of myqualification as a Master of Art holder and while I was embarking on my
Ph.D. program. I was seriously underpaid and made to work more thancolleagues with little or no qualifications. I can say that I was competentand qualified to be the head-teacher yet the head-teacher had only B.SC
in education which was equivalent to my BSC (ED) that I had. (D15).
By and large, the issues of racial discrimination continue in our society as experienced by theinterviewees. There are also cases where students of color do not adhere to instructions ofAfrican migrant teachers. Sometimes there were cases where students even made racist andderogatory comments to the African migrant teachers and when reported to the school
management, appropriate disciplinary measures were not taken to inhibit such attitudes anddispositions.
I constantly experienced students disregarding my instructions while I
was teaching and nothing was done when this was reported to the
management (D15).
The management always have a way to deal nicely with issues of racism,disobedience, and disrespect to African teachers (D8).
I was constantly called an abusive name by some of the students especiallywhen I give simple instruction while teaching (G8).
Students call me “Arap” which means slave in Turkish language and thiswas very disrespectful yet the management implements little or no
disciplinary measures (D10).
I am often being neglected when I give certain instructions, most times I
threaten to call other white skin teachers when they disrespect me. Thisshows that they are more scared of the white teacher than we black, that’s
terrible (D8).
Students often write me derogatory emails and when I report this to
management, they often do nothing to mitigate this act (D18).
Students neglect my instructions and in most cases report to higher
departmental officers who write me to question my actions instead ofreprimanding them for their unruly actions (G22).
I must say that this country accepts all race and ethnics into theirworkforce, there is little or nothing about racial issues here to be honest
(B4).

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A careful and critical review of these comments does show that issues of racial discrimination
at the workplace, especially in our educational institutions are prevalent regardless of the callsby non-governmental agencies to end racism in our societies.
Discussion
From the data, key findings emerge. The findings show that the participants thought thatparents of students often question and complain about their competence. These results gobeyond previous reports, showing that such racial discrimination exists and is usuallyexperienced by African immigrant teachers (Bastos et al., 2014; Kang & Harvey, 2020). It wasevident that ESL learners do not listen to their African immigrant ESL teachers as a result of
their color which invariably would result in negligence to teacher’s instructions as well. While
this is a novel finding, literature on social injustices has failed to capture this. Surprisingly thestudy was able to show that African migrant ESL teachers were uncomfortable discussing with
their students’ parents. While this may be new, it is well documented in studies that inabilityof host communities of immigrants to accept immigrants into their society affects the level ofworkplace acceptance and integration among immigrants, especially Africans (Esses, 2020;
Mosuga, 2020; Tesfai & Thomas, 2020). This study presumes that this lackadaisical attitude
towards acceptance of African immigrants into societies may be likely reason for the
discomfort experienced by African ESL immigrant teachers while discussing with the students’parents. More clearly, this presumption is reliant on another remarkable finding of this study
which pinpoints that African immigrant teachers were of the perception that their students’parents do not accept the way they teach their children. Yet clearly, studies have shown that
there is no justification that the ability to teach is dependent on issues of color, race, gender or
immigration status (Dee, 2005; Parks & Kennedy, 2007). These were some novel findings ofthis study.
Our findings on issues like acceptance of African teachers by the educational community,
assigning more duties, and disparity in wages paid to African immigrant teachers, at least hint
and support the opinion of similar studies that these issues exist at the workplace (Henson etal., 2013; Sinclair & Warikoo, 2020). This suggests that there is the possibility of racial
discrimination among colleagues at a workplace and the present study confirmed the findingsof this as there were issues of racism by colleagues, racist comments by the students which isin tandem with the findings of similar studies asserting that some African immigrants doexperience racial abuse by their colleagues at the workplace (Park et al., 2020; Sinclair &Warikoo, 2020). Again, it was indicated that in a country like Luxembourg, racial related issues
especially as it concerns African immigrant teacher are at the barest minimum. Furthermore,
the study unveiled that African teachers were being treated differently by management as asimilar conclusion was reached by other studies which suggest same treatments are observedin some workplaces abroad (Bastos et al., 2014; Henson et al., 2013; Sheehan et al., 2019).
Another finding was that African teachers were not given equal promotion as compared with
their colleagues at the same workplace and this is consistent with what has been found inprevious studies that there are usually disparities with regards to the promotion of immigrants
to a particular position as such positions are only reserved for citizens (DeCuir-Gunby, 2020;
Kang & Harvey, 2020). Generally, it seems that labor policies did not favor African teachers
teaching abroad. Overall, these findings are in tandem with findings reported by statistics andstudies carried out on immigration policies and racially related issues across Europe (Park etal., 2020; Pizarro & Kohli, 2020).

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It is obvious that the issue of racial discrimination is existent even in our educational systems
as teachers of color continue to be victims of these racial dispositions by colleagues, students,
and the management. It could be deduced through the comments of the interviewees that
African teachers teaching abroad were disadvantaged in many ways while teaching in most
European schools despite the continuous call to put an end to racism in the society. This result
highlights that though little is being written with regards to racial discrimination among Africanteachers, the results of this study show that a lot of racial issues exist among African immigrantteachers who are well qualified and experienced yet facing racial discrimination at theirworkplace. This study upholds that such discrimination does not foster an all-inclusive
education which is essential in 21st-century society and thus needs implementation of serious
measures to curb these societal inequalities.
Conclusion /Recommendations
The aim of the study was to examine workplace racial discrimination issues among African
immigrant teachers in a bid to determine possible ways of enhancing an all-inclusive education
for all. The author concluded that African immigrant teachers who are well experienced andqualified experience issues of racial discrimination at the workplace. In summary, this paperargued that though immigrant African ESL teachers are well qualified, they are not promoted
like other colleagues at their workplace and while putting in longer hours of work, disparities
in wages exist at the workplace with Luxemburg as an exception. In conclusion, it would appear
that the labor policies of these host countries are not fairly implemented across different racialand ethnic backgrounds rather enforced to favor their citizen. This allows the conclusion thatmost host countries formulate labor policies that would favor their citizens more than African
immigrants.
Reasonable as it may seem, there is a need to ensure that societies of these immigrants arepolitically and economically stable to reduce the level at which individuals immigrate fromone place to another. Proper labor policies should be formulated to promote the right of African
immigrants and other immigrants so that issues of racial discrimination and abuses atworkplaces will be reduced to minimal. The remaining issues are subject to fairness as there isa need for immigrant African teachers to be treated fairly among their colleagues at aworkplace, after all, works of literature have shown that a correlation does not exist between
race and workplace performance. This further validates the conclusion that while there is aneed for special workplace positions to be reserved for citizens, competent African immigrants
or other immigrants should be allowed to occupy such position and encouraged to work withother towards achieving organizational goals. More generally, issues of racial discrimination
should be frowned at especially while fostering an all-inclusive educational system thatprovides appropriate/conducive teaching and learning environment for all; both for the learnerand the teachers.
Limitations of the Study
The major limitation of this study was the sample size of the participants which was relatively
small. Also, studies should be conducted which would discuss issues of workplace
discrimination among African immigrant teachers teaching at different countries in different
continents, this would give a better world perspective on this topic. Again, this study was aperception-based study and like every other perception based studies, perceptions ofparticipants can be influenced by other groups or may lead to a situation where the perceived
may not be the factual.

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Acknowledgement
Special thanks to all the participants that participated during this research, I really do appreciate
your efforts. Special thanks to participants from North Cyprus, Turkey and Luxembourg. A
special thanks to Prof Mohammad Kesharvaz for your constant encouragement and advice.

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Zhou, M., Shenasi, S., & Xu, T. (2016). Chinese attitudes toward African migrants inGuangzhou, China. International Journal of Sociology, 46(2), 141–161.
Corresponding Author: Chinaza Solomon Ironsi
Email: Solomon.chinaza@neu.edu.tr

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