| Summary: | The purpose of this essay is to investigate how upper-secondary school students with an immigrant background experience teachers’ ethnic differentiation practices. Furthermore, it examines what strategies the students develop to prepare for, avoid and deal with such ethnic differentiation practices. A total of four focus groups were conducted, with three–four participants in each. In three groups, the relationship between boys and girls was even, while the last group consisted of boys only. The participants were Syrians, Palestinians, Eritreans, Armenians, Somalis, Assyrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, and Afghans. The study found that the students have experienced ethnic differentiation by teachers in school in different ways. The students experience that they were treated differently by their teachers due to their ethnic backgrounds. Moreover, gender, social background, and hierarchies between different ethnicities create differences in how the students are treated. The students develop different strategies to prepare for, avoid and deal with teachers’ ethnic differentiation practices. They code-switch, change body language, and take up less space. The study shows that students spend large parts of their time reflecting on and worrying about how they should behave and act with their teachers, something that can be understood as minority stress.
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