(Re-)Production of Difference at Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences? Educational fields of social work and pedagogy in a critical perspective on difference

Abstract

This paper focuses on findings from a research project on the «(Re-)production of difference in higher education and practical training practices», which was conducted in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. While the phenomenology and practice of higher education teaching are already well researched, the focus on the perspective of teachers is less common and is still largely lacking regarding the reproduction of relations of difference as well as to the question of a teaching that is reflective of difference. The study aims to find out to what extend university teachers at universities of applied sciences and practical trainers are involved in the (re)production of relations of difference based on migration. Furthermore, the paper arises the question of university teaching and practical training which are not only reflective of difference but also implement decolonization on an institutional level. Postcolonial and critical-difference-inspired perspectives of analysis illuminate the fact that historically developed (colonial) relations of power and domination are hardly questioned in higher educational – e.g. social work and pedagogical – fields of education and action.