Inside and Outside the Integrated Bilingual Palestinian–Jewish Schools in Israel: Teachers’ Perceptions of Personal, Professional and Political Positioning

This article was published in Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol 27 number 2,
Author(s): Maureen Rajuan and Zvi Bekerman, " Inside and Outside the Integrated CBlingual Palestinian–Jewish Schools in Israel: Teachers’ Perceptions of Personal, Professional and Political Positioning", Pages 395-405, Copyright Elsevier (February 2011).

This study explored how teachers of the integrated bilingual Palestinian–Jewish schools in Israel construct their school culture in relation to various outside pressures in their attempt to achieve educational change.

The authors analyzed field notes from an in-service training workshop according to three levels of the teaching context: the personal, professional and political.

It was found that the teachers perceive themselves as primarily pedagogical experts with a shared vision based on multiculturalism and coexistence.
Furthermore, it was found that teachers' inside and outside positioning results in perceived conflicts: Conflict between individual diversity and group coexistence; Conflict between multicultural curriculum and standardized achievements; and conflict between respect for national identification and political struggle.

Finally, the authors offer suggestions to improve the positioning of the teachers in relation to pupils, parents and policy-makers.