Nineteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Uneven development causes skilled workers from developing countries whose labor markets are characterized by un- and underemployment, little stability, and structural limitations, to move to developed countries for better opportunities. Yet, rather than addressing these problems or “externalities” of development, the state can conceal them in an act of problem avoidance: political displacement activity. In the Philippines, the government shifts their focus on the global “hype” for growth and development by way of state-led labor migration, instead of solving unemployment, among others. As a result, the more chronic conditions of precarity, particularly economic insecurity, are politically displaced by the government. This phenomenographic study investigates the growing trend of Filipino migrant teachers vis-à-vis the politics of displacement, by looking at the variations in the experiences of Filipino migrant teachers. It reviews the phenomenon of teacher migration of Filipino teachers as a case of forced migration resulting from the concept of development-induced political displacement activity. The range of meanings exposes the dangerous assumption of migration decisions as genuinely autonomous and justly weighed. Their experiences reveal that teacher migration is stripped off of any sense of voluntariness because of the lack of viable and dignified options that teachers can choose from. This paper argues that the different experiences and corresponding perspectives of the phenomenon of displaced teachers allows for a more complete grasp of the complexity of teacher migration, as that which is more than just an opportunity for national development.