Education for national identity: Arab schools principals and teachers dilemmas and coping strategies

This article discusses strategies used by Arab principals and teachers in Israel to cope with dilemmas involved in education for national identity stemming from conflict between two national narratives. While the Israeli Ministry of Education expects the Arab education system to educate students acc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of education policy 2016-11, Vol.31 (6), p.681-693
Main Authors: Arar, Khalid, Ibrahim, Fadia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administrator Attitudes
Arabs
Arabs in Israel
Coping
Cross Cultural Studies
Culture Conflict
Educational Attitudes
Educational Policy
Educational Practices
Foreign Countries
Identity education
Israel
Minority Groups
National Curriculum
Nationalism
Palestine
Participant Characteristics
Principals
Qualitative Research
School Activities
School Policy
Semi Structured Interviews
Teacher Attitudes
teachers
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Summary:This article discusses strategies used by Arab principals and teachers in Israel to cope with dilemmas involved in education for national identity stemming from conflict between two national narratives. While the Israeli Ministry of Education expects the Arab education system to educate students according to the Jewish State's values, Palestinian Arab society expects its schools to educate its children according to Palestinian Arab national-cultural values. A qualitative research employed a semi-structured interview to elicit views on this issue from 7 principals and 14 teachers in the Arab education system in Israel. The findings indicate a conflictual reality. Interviewees expressed fear, humiliation and affront when required to obey Ministry of Education instructions in contradiction to attitudes prevalent in their society. They therefore developed coping strategies to foster students' national identity without disrupting the necessary balance; primarily the construction of a covert learning program through manipulations in the official overt learning program. This study contributes to our understanding of minority education in a reality of conflict between the state and its national minority.
ISSN:0268-0939
1464-5106
DOI:10.1080/02680939.2016.1182647