Recognizing migrant teachers as agents of multicultural education: a conceptual framework from Latin America

Purpose This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework explaining when migrant teachers can act as agents of multicultural education. It argues that their pedagogical contribution depends less on their qualifications than on whether education systems recognize them as legitimate teachers. Design/methodology/approach This paper follows a theory synthesis design (Jaakkola, 2020), integrating literature on migrant teachers, teacher professional identity, recognition theory and multicultural education. Latin America, and specifically Venezuelan migration to Chile, serves as an illustrative context. Findings The framework distinguishes three dimensions of recognition, separated by the institutional level at which legitimacy is conferred. Administrative recognition (the state) governs credential validation and authorization to teach. Organizational recognition (the school) governs induction, collegial acceptance and leadership support. Pedagogical recognition (the classroom) governs whether teachers’ cultural, linguistic and professional repertoires are treated as curricular resources. Because these dimensions can diverge, recognition is frequently fragmented: teachers may be formally used yet remain peripheral to multicultural education. Research limitations/implications The framework is conceptual and awaits empirical testing; it invites comparative study of how different recognition regimes shape migrant teachers’ agency. Originality/value Existing scholarship establishes why diversifying the teaching workforce matters (Villegas and Irvine, 2010) but not the institutional conditions under which diversification becomes pedagogical practice. This paper specifies those conditions, shifts attention from migrant students to migrant educators and extends a literature shaped by European and Anglophone cases to South–South migration.