From ideological tensions to pedagogical solutions: Narratives of Israeli arab-palestinian civics teachers

International Journal of Educational Development 68 (2019) 96–104

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International Journal of Educational Development journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev

From ideological tensions to pedagogical solutions: Narratives of Israeli arab-palestinian civics teachers

T

Aviv Cohen The Seymour Fox School of Education, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, 9190501, Israel

A R T I C LE I N FO

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Civics Minority groups Educational practices Pedagogy Interviews Israel

This study wishes to advance the ongoing discourses of civic education and practices of teaching civics by focusing on the realities of minority civics teachers, who are in conflictual relations with the ruling majority. Focusing on narratives of eight Israeli Arab-Palestinian civics teachers, we traced three central ideological tensions that they encountered: 1) Between conflicting identities; 2) Between the official curriculum and students’ lived experiences, and 3) Between active and passive modes of citizenship. The main argument highlights the teachers’ reflections on pedagogy and teaching practices seen by them as a key solution to deal with these tensions.

1. Introduction

expectations; between the formal definition of a teacher as a representative of governmental institutions, and the Arab population’s social definition of the teacher as a social- educational leader” (p. 46). The civics subject-matter is particularly interesting in this regard, considering its previous official raison d'etre, which suggested a common civic language to be shared by all students of the different streams of the Israeli educational system (Adan and Ashkenazi, 2004; Israeli Ministry of Education, 2010).2 In addition, the phenomenon of globalization has enforced scholars and practitioners to reexamine the general tenets of citizenship, and particularly the relations between different groups that compose society. For example, the study by Bamberger et al. (2019) presented in this special issue, pointed at how the need for international recognition and funding geared one Israeli institution of higher education towards collaborations with Palestinian communities. The teaching of civics in Israel is a topic that has been explored from numerous points of view (Cohen, 2017). Several studies focused on textual examinations of the existing policy, curriculum, and textbooks, pointing to the conflicting goals and key elements such as between active and passive modes of citizenship (Ichilov, 2008), and between the basic definition of Israel as both a Jewish and Democratic state (Pinson, 2007). The second group of normative studies offered alternative educational trajectories, stressing, for example, the need to create a shared common language (Avnon, 2006) or offer a new regional approach in contrast to the national discourse (Bashir, 2015).

In June 2017, one of the two Israeli Arab-Palestinian1 members of the Israeli Ministry of Education’s Advisory Committee on Civics resigned, stating that “the country’s Arab community was being shortchanged in the panel’s deliberations” (Skop and Levinson, 2017). In response, a source close to the Minister of Education stated that “the minister will continue to lead the ministry guided by democratic and Zionist values, and anyone willing to work under these precepts can find a place in the education of Israel’s children” (Skop and Levinson, 2017). This example of a lack of common ground between the minority group and the ruling majority reflects the ongoing challenges that ArabPalestinian educators face in Israel today. The Israeli context makes for a compelling research arena in line of the focus of this special issue, due to its institutional segregation into four educational streams, based on both religious and national affiliations – Jewish secular, Jewish religious, Arab and Jewish ultra-orthodox (Blass and Shavit, 2017). Furthermore, the educational reality within the Arab stream is highly influenced by the ongoing tensions between the Jewish majority and the Arab-Palestinian minority group, offering an opportunity to expose power relations between different social groups in a country that exists in an intractable conflict. As explained by Gindi and Erlich-Ron (2019), in this reality, Arab-Palestinian teachers “have found themselves caught between contradictory

E-mail address: [email protected]. The term Israeli Arab-Palestinian or Arab-Palestinian was chosen to describe the Israeli citizens of Israel affiliated to the Arab-Palestinian minority group, also known as Israeli Arabs. Although nationally and culturally connected, this term as used here will not relate to Palestinians of the Palestinian Authority who are not Israeli citizens, and who act in an autonomous educational system following a different curriculum. 2 The discourse surrounding the goals of teaching civics in Israel from recent years has changed this general objective to a more nationalistic approach. See: Cohen (2017). 1

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2019.05.007 Received 23 January 2019; Received in revised form 16 May 2019; Accepted 18 May 2019 Available online 27 May 2019 0738-0593/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Cohen (2010) also showed how teachers valued group aspects such as the preservation of the group culture, maintaining stability within the group; whereas Nasser and Abu-Nimer (2012), pointed to social responsibility, and mutual commitment among group members as important values. A second aspect is the topic of motivation and professional satisfaction, seen as a critical factor that influences the teachers’ practice (Abu-Saad and Hendrix, 1995; Bogler, 2005; Husny Arar and MassryHerzllah, 2016). Such studies point to several factors that influence teachers’ motivation, such as school climate, the leadership of school management as well as gender issues. Agbaria and Pinson (2013) offer an analysis of the field of teacher education, portraying how official policies of the state may have negative influences on these teachers’ motivations. Focusing on domains of wellbeing among Palestinian teachers, Veronese et al. (2018) identified several themes that cauterized Israeli-Palestinian teachers that included social, professional, and personal dimensions. Combined, these dimensions all led to the teachers’ feelings that they are “excluded from decision-making processes both inside and outside of schools, as well as limited in their professional development due to widespread and institutionalized racism, repression, and persecution” (p. 24). The third group of studies focused on dilemmas that influence these teachers’ understandings and practices. Agbaria and Pinson (2019) described these teachers’ reality as a

These main points of focus were also identified regarding the subtopic of the teaching of civics in the context of the Arab-Palestinian minority group. Agbaria et al. (2015), for example, examined curricular initiatives, pointing to how alternative educational materials may be seen as a way to oppose oppression. Lemish (2003) offered a philosophical examination of the teaching of civics in Israel, pointing to how it creates sites of resistance for Arab-Palestinian citizens due to the emphasis on the ethnic Jewish group. He thus offers an alternative approach, stressing values that will promote Israel as a true civic society. Thus, the goals of this study were twofold: foremost, to advance the scholarly debates surrounding the topic of teaching civics in Israel while focusing on teachers from this minority group; and second, to reach theoretical insights regarding the reality of a minority group required to teach a curriculum framed by the majority, is such a conflictual setting. Such relations, between minority teachers and the hegemonic majority, have already been identified as a central theme of study (Atkins et al., 2014; Cherng and Halpin, 2016; Quiocho and Rios, 2000), focusing mainly on heterogeneous educational settings in which minority teachers interact with diverse student bodies. In contrast, to the best of my knowledge, the reality of homogeneous classrooms that are dominated by both students and teachers from the same minority group, are lacking in this discourse. Thus, due to the way the Israeli educational system is constructed, interesting questions arise regarding how minority teachers act in classrooms that represent their own cultural and national identities, specifically when such groups have conflictual relationships with the ruling majority. By presenting narratives of eight Arab-Palestinian teachers who teach civics in the Israeli educational system, the study asked how these teachers interact with the official curriculum and with the educational contexts in which they teach? The findings traced three central ideological tensions that the Arab-Palestinian teachers encountered as part of their teaching: 1) Between conflicting identities; 2) Between the official curriculum and students’ lived experiences, and 3) Between active and passive modes of citizenship. As will be presented, the main argument highlights the teachers’ reflections on pedagogy and teaching practices as a key solution they found to deal with and mitigate these tensions.

a battleground in which the state’s pressure to impose a unified and top-down version of citizenship that supports the Jewish ethno-national nature of the state encounters the Arab teachers’ pedagogical emphasis on citizenship as more substantial, multilayered, nuanced, and tested as a practice (p. 407). Gindi and Erlich-Ron (2019) focused on how Arab-Palestinian teachers deal with controversial issues as part of their teaching. They identified three coping strategies: evasion – the choice to directly or indirectly avoid such discussions; toning down – the choice to mitigate the controversial issues from a pragmatic stance, and promoting a shared society – the moral choice to use discussions to promote a shared Jewish-Arab coexistence. Based on these findings, they concluded that “Arab teachers guard themselves and refrain from entering situations that may endanger their status” (p. 52). Makkawi (2002) advised widening the research perspective beyond questions of values, motivation, and classroom practice by positioning the roles of Arab-Palestinian teachers within the broader political context of the ongoing tensions and conflicts between the Jewish majority and Arab-Palestinian minority, as they influence the educational system. Thus, he framed the central dilemma of these teachers as a rift between their affiliation to the Palestinian minority group, and their professional loyalty to the state of Israel, which is their employer, characterized by a centralized system that implements mechanisms of supervision.

1.1. Background 1.1.1. Arab-palestinian teachers in Israel Similar to other minority groups that exist in countries worldwide, The Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel is not monolithic and is highly diverse, comprised of different religious, social and, ethnic subgroups (Totry, 2008). Nevertheless, a common overarching similarity among these subgroups is their affiliation as non-Jewish citizens of the Jewish state (Levy, 2005). This affiliation has influenced the status of these citizens, who suffer from discrimination and marginalization in many aspects of life, such as funds, infrastructure, and representation (Ganim, 2001). Due to historical reasons, the Israeli educational system is highly segregated, divided into different streams based on cultural affiliations (Iram and Shemidaʻ, 1998). From an institutional point of view, the Arab sub-stream, in which the language of instruction is Arabic, is overseen by the general stream and forgoes supervision by the Ministry of Education. Thus, despite the first impression that this stream enjoys some autonomy, these schools are highly influenced by the national dominate Jewish values they are expected to instill, such as the definition of Israel as a Jewish state (Al-Haj, 1995). A growing body of research has focused on teachers affiliated to the Arab-Palestinian minority group in Israel, highlighting several aspects that characterize these teachers’ experiences. Foremost, several studies examined the principal values of these teachers. Abu-Saad (2003), for example, found the central position of group identity, pointing to how teachers cancel their aspirations, in light of broader group objectives.

1.1.2. The teaching of civics in Israel Teaching civics in Israel is particularly challenging since the very notions of citizenship are still highly debated and contested (Ben-Porat and Turner, 2011; Shafir and Peled, 2002; Sprinzak, 1999). Zalzberg (2018) characterized the Israeli political discourse as polarized, reflecting a real identity crisis between what he identified as two competing camps: a secular liberal camp and a Jewish continuity camp. As part of this special issue, Agbaria and Shmueli (2019) described attempts of the secular elite to counter the hegemony of the religious right, using a specific educational field. The firing of the professional supervisor of civics in the Ministry of Education (Nesher, 2012) and the public controversy surrounding the firing of a teacher who exposed his political views (Grave-Lazi, 2015) both reflect these tensions. Historically, civics did not exist as an independent subject-matter since the founding of the state in 1948 and until a large-scale reformation of the Israeli school system at the beginning of the 1970s (Yariv-Mashal 2004). The first civics curriculum standards were mainly 97

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education aimed at functioning within a specific ethnic or cultural community and participate in the national sphere. As he explained, education should aspire to “recognize and legitimize difference and yet construct an overarching national identity that incorporates the voices, experiences, and hopes of the diverse groups that compose it” (p. 133). Dealing with such a complex reality, the presence of minority teachers in classrooms has been identified in several studies as a potential solution (Egalite et al., 2015). For example, such presence was shown to have outcomes on minority students (Atkins et al., 2014), due to how the minority teachers serve as role models, influencing students’ expectations from themselves. Furthermore, studies that documented the experiences of such minority teachers illuminated the key challenges they encounter. For example, such teachers are required to find a balance between the local culture and the national identity. As explained by Saada (2013)

concerned with the transmission of formal knowledge regarding procedural aspects of Israel’s political institutions. The 1980s–1990s, which were a time of great political and social fragility (Sprinzak, 1999), saw the appointment of a committee whose mandate was to reevaluate the civics curriculum based on social and political challenges the country was facing at the time. Between 1990–1994 the committee created a new civics curriculum that was approved by the Ministry of Education in 1994. Between 1994–1999, the new civics curriculum underwent an experimental period in a limited number of schools nationwide. After evaluating the results of this experiment, and refining the curriculum based on its findings, in 2000 the new curriculum was approved as the official civics curriculum of the state of Israel to be used by all schools in the state (Israeli Ministry of Education, 2010). In 2008 the Israeli Ministry of Education approved an expansion of the allotted hours for civics lessons in both junior high and high schools. Until the time of this expansion, civics was taught over three weekly hours over one year (usually 11th or 12th grade). This expansion led to the official requirement that civics be taught over three weekly hours over two or three years of high school (three weekly hours in 11th and 12th grades or two weekly hours in 10th, 11th and 12th grades) and to the addition of a mandatory participatory, hands-on task, known as the Implementation Task. Following the 2009 elections, which brought about the rise of a right-wing coalition government, the new Minister of Education declared his will to promote a more nationalistic educational agenda (Kashti, 2010). Regarding the civics curriculum, it was decided to emphasize national elements that define Israel as a nation-state of the Jewish people. Following this approach, in May 2016 a revised version of the civics textbook titled "To be citizens in Israel: A Jewish and Democratic State," replaced the official textbook of the same name published in 2000. This new version was seen as an answer to claims that the old textbook emphasized and promoted the liberal secular characteristics of the state while overlooking its nationalistic Jewish attributes (Kaplan Sommer, 2016). The implementation of the civics curriculum is evaluated through a national matriculation exam, known in Hebrew as the Bagrut. The exam is composed of knowledge-based questions, evaluation and application questions, and opinion questions that require students to craft persuasive arguments (Cohen, 2013). Relating to the topic of the Arab-Palestinian minority as part of the teaching of civics, both Abu-Asbah (2007) and Agbaria (2010), pointed to the fact that despite including the topic of the reality of this group as part of the official civics curriculum, it is presented while decreasing the place of their group rights. Also, the topic of discrimination against Arab-Palestinians in Israel is blurred.

one of the continuing dilemmas of education in pluralist societies is to recognize the differences among citizens in terms of their cultural, ethnic, and religious identities and, at the same time to educate them to have a sense of a common, shared, national identity (p. 251). In order to find such a balance, studies pointed to several solutions enacted by teachers. These included the use of a diverse curriculum (Saada, 2013); processes of personal and professional self-reflection (Salinas and Castro, 2010; Scott and Rodriguez, 2015) that enable them to challenge the official curriculum, exposing issues of stereotypes and structural inequalities; and the adoption of educational strategies (Wells, 2017) that offer a more combative approach that challenges the given reality. 2.2. Pedagogical aspects of classroom practices Laying a framework for comparative studies of pedagogy, Alexander (2001) offered to view this aspect of teaching as the “very core of the educational enterprise” (p. 521) defining pedagogy as: the observable act of teaching together with its attendant discourse of educational theories, values, evidence, and justifications. It is what one needs to know, and the skills one needs to command, in order to make and justify the many different kinds of decisions of which teaching is constituted (Alexander, 2009, p. 929). Such a definition encompasses both practical and ideological stances: The practical stance will ask questions about the tasks, activities, interactions, and judgments employed. The ideological stance will ask what the ideas, values, and beliefs that influence and justify these acts of teaching are. Answers to such questions may result in different approaches to teaching, demonstrating the connections between the practical and theoretical aspects of this field. Whatever the approach, such pedagogical aspects reflect cultural, social, and political aspects. Such contextual aspects of pedagogy were also highlighted by Cohen (2011), as part of his discussion of instructional discourse. He defined instruction as a “socially organized means to extend and exchange knowledge” (p. 131). This social approach to instruction emphasizes organization and technology as factors that influence teachers’ and students’ participation. For example, he explained the difference between discussions, which enhance participation, as opposed to lectures that constrain it. As he stated, “teachers who organize discourse in ways that increase learners' opportunities to participate increase their chances to cultivate a practice of teaching” (p. 132). Focusing on the field of civic education pedagogies, Grossman (2011) stated that “pedagogy does not occur in a vacuum” (p. 15), emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the social and political contexts in which such pedagogies take place. For example, while exploring pedagogies affiliated to democratic civic education, he reminded us that “citizenship participation in public is at the heart of the democratic ideal” (p. 16), thus the importance in pedagogies that focus

2. Theoretical frameworks Two main theoretical frameworks guided this study. First, studies surrounding issues of minority teachers helped frame the main topics and issues that stood at the heart of this inquiry. Second, pedagogical aspects of classroom practices were identified as a relevant field due to the nature of the findings. 2.1. Minority teachers In the introduction to a special issue titled “Education, ethnicity, and conflict,” Johnson and Stewart (2007) pointed to the crucial role played by education in multicultural societies. As they explained, education has significant implications for members of minority cultural groups, due to the ways in which educations’ “values and structure often reflect inequalities in power; on the other hand, it is a pivotal sector for its potential to affect these values and inequalities, potentially offering a way of breaking from the past” (p. 250). Thus, they offered to examine both educational content and structure, questioning how these factors potentially reinforce or change current societal realities. Similarly, Banks (2008) pointed to the need to find a balance between 98

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relayed on the Arab-Palestinian research assistants that conducted the interviews. Using a research protocol in the data collections stage, and following a clear procedure in the data analysis stage, enabled me to deal with my personal biases, particularly in such a case in which I was distanced from the participants.

on democratic processes, as opposed to institutions or structures. Such pedagogies enable processes of inquiry, discourse, and engagement. Hahn (2016) too focused on the pedagogical dimensions of civic education, offering a summary of what was already known in the discourse regarding pedagogy that relates to the goals of civic education. In her review of the literature, she explained that studies have focused either on the intended curriculum, such as examinations of curriculum standards or course syllabi, or on the outcomes of such curriculum, such as studies of students’ opinions as a result of different educational programs, such as the well-known IEA study (Torney-Purta et al., 2001). Thus she drew attention to the lack of studies that examine the enacted curriculum, emphasizing such pedagogical aspects of civic education. Based on her previous studies of civic education in several countries, Hahn (2016) argued that pedagogical practices should be seen as part of more extensive educational traditions and culture that characterize different countries. For this reason, she did not point to a specific ideal pedagogical practice but instead urged researchers to relate to the “context for teaching and learning citizenship” (p. 124). She highlighted several pedagogical practices that have been researched and reported on from several countries, including recitation, classroom discussion, simulation, use of social media, and culturally responsive pedagogy. To sum, combining these theoretical foundations about minority teachers and the pedagogical aspects of classroom practices enabled a holistic approach, in which the connections between content, method, and context were examined. Focusing on the case study of ArabPalestinian civics teachers in Israel who teach in a reality in which they and their students have conflictual relations with the leading Jewish majority, shed light on the central tensions they experienced when teaching in such a setting. Furthermore, this focus highlighted the practical aspects of teaching that function as a critical coping mechanism in order to deal with such tensions.

4. Results Based on the analysis of the interviews, three central tensions were identified, dominating the experiences of the participants: 1) between conflicting identities; 2) between the official curriculum and the students’ lived experiences, and 3) between active and passive modes of citizenship. Following I will present excerpts from the interviews displaying these tensions, highlighting how the teachers reflected on the ways they chose to deal with them, stressing the pedagogical solutions they presented as part of their teaching practices. 4.1. Between conflicting identities The first tension that was identified as an overarching theme mentioned by several participants related to issues of identity. Particularly, the conflicting positions as both members of the Arab-Palestinian minority group and as citizens of the state. Several teachers voiced their concern that the students’ cultural identities are unclear, as expressed for example by Nur who stated that “students today are not connected to their identity” or by Abed who stated that “students arrive at school unprepared regarding their identity…they do not have clear definition who is Arab? Who is Jewish?”. Ali raised similar concerns, stating that “my students are confused because they are still children and are still looking for their own identity.” This aspect of the students’ unclear identity influenced how the participants perceived their students’ civil stance, as expressed for example by Ahmad, who explained that “without learning civics my students won’t understand the civic relations and affiliations that they are supposed to have with their surroundings, and this can lead to indifference, which is very dangerous”. Nur described the local town where she taught as a “parallel world,” and explained that her students “are closed in a bubble in these villages. It makes them less connected to things that are happening in their surroundings and the state. They do not see themselves as active participants in the reality that is going on [in the state]”. Ali explained that “some of my students want to leave their villages and take part in the Israeli way of life and be like everybody else, and some hear a lot of frustration and hatred at home, and they have no will to assimilate into the Israeli society.” Furthermore, the fact that the teachers taught civics raised their awareness of the liberal-democratic ideals that dominate their lessons. Some of the participants saw such ideals as contradictory to the conservative ideals that dominated their students’ local contexts. As Adam clearly explained, “we are still a traditional religious society, and this may clash with democracy. This is something I feel in my lessons – students do not respect rights and freedoms, particularly freedom of speech…it is as if a deformed picture of democracy was implanted in my students’ brains, telling them that democracy contradicts our traditions and customs”. He also raised his concern that if he teaches democracy, “I will be considered a troublemaker.” Abed summarized this tension, stating “think how difficult it is to explain to the students’ who is considered an Israeli citizen? It is a trivial question but so complicated … teaching civics confuses my students in their quest for understanding their own identity”. In light of this conflicting reality and the students’ identity confusion, civics lessons were described by the participants as pedagogical space in which students could openly discuss such tensions. Nur, for example, related to this aspect, stating that her students “raise these issues since they do not know where to discuss such topics and with whom.” Thus, classroom discussion was presented as a central pedagogical practice that enabled students to reflect on burning topics. As

3. Methods Due to the delicate reality of Arab-Palestinians in Israel (Israeli, 2017), when designing this qualitative study, I built on the methodological traditions of semi-structured thematic interviews, due mainly to my concern that classroom observations would be too intrusive. The sampling was guided by identifying Arab-Palestinian high school civics teachers as the guiding criteria. Eight participants were recruited based on personal acquaintance and snowball sampling. The main limitation of this approach and this limited sample is selection bias, that, of course, influenced the findings of the study. In response, efforts were made to create a sample of participants that contains various characteristics of the population, such as gender, background experience, school type, and location(See Table 1). In addition, the study’s main goal was defined as an attempt to identify meaningful theoretical insights based on this limited sample, not offer broad generalizations. The interviews were conducted in Arabic by Arab-Palestinian research assistants following a research protocol(See Appendix A) and lasted approximately one and a half hours. The interviews were then transcribed and translated into Hebrew, in order to enable the analysis of the data by non-Arabic speakers. Following Creswell’s (2013) model of spiral data analysis, I used a four-stage process in order to analyze the data while applying codes and identifying overarching themes to generate theoretical insights(See Appendix B and Appendix C). It is essential to address the fact that as the primary investigator, I am a secular Ashkenazi Jew of European origin who identifies mainly with the humanistic Jewish culture as it has developed in the Israeli context. This culture represents the combination of the modern western school of thought with Jewish nationalism. My affiliation with the dominant Israeli cultural group led me to distance myself from the participants in the data collection stage of the study, due to my concern that such power relations will interfere with the study. Thus, I highly 99

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Table 1 Participants’ details. Name (pseudonym)

Gender

Muhammad

M

Ahmad

M

Yusuf

M

Omar

M

Adam

M

Nur

F

Abed

M

Ali

M

Background Experience

School Type and Location

History and Sociology (BA) and Educational Management (MA) • Studied of experience as a civics teacher • 10Partyears of the school management team. • Studied Eastern Studies (BA) and Educational Management (MA) • 10 yearsMiddle experience as a civics teacher • Works as ofa regional for the Ministry of Education • Holds a BA and an MAguide(preferred not to mention in which major) • 2 years of experience as a civics teacher • Studied Political Science and Education (BA) and Educational Management (MA) • 15 years of experience as a teacher (subject not mentioned), 7 years as a civics • teacher of study not mentioned • Area of experience as a civics and history teacher • 15Areayears of study not mentioned • 14 years of experience as civics teacher • Area of study not mentioned • 22 years of experience as civics teacher • Area of study not mentioned • 9 years of experience as civics teacher •

Religious Muslim school in an urban location

Secular school in an urban location

Secular school in an urban location Secular school in an urban location

Vocational technological school in a suburban location Religious Muslim school in rural location Religious Christian school in suburban location Secular Muslim school in suburban location

that “the official civics textbook has many references to the Jewish religion, for example in the chapter dedicated to the Jewish state, it says that one of the justifications of the state is the promise from God. I ask – really? Is this a civics class or Bible class?”. Regarding the general curriculum standards, Nur stated that it “presents a history of another society [the Jewish majority], and it presents us as losers. Who wants to hear that they are losers?”. Following this criticism, participants presented several pedagogical solutions. One option was to ignore the official texts altogether, as expressed by Abed, who openly stated that “I do not use the official textbook.” Another option was to present alternative teaching materials, as Muhammad explained: “I will explain the topics that appear in the official textbook, but in class, I use alternative materials.” A third option raised by several participants related to the noncurriculum, particularly to topics that do not appear in the official curriculum standards. As explained by Abed, “I, of course, teach everything we need for the Bagrut exam, but I also teach topics that are not part of the Bagrut.” Ali also related to this aspect of his teaching, explaining that “my students do not always understand what material is for the Bagrut and was is extra, but at the end, they see example tests and get it.” A list of several of such topics emerged from the interviews, including historical traditions of the Arab culture, the issue of Palestinian refugees from 1948, The city of Jerusalem and its separation, the Nakba,3 and the Jewish-Palestinian conflict. Abed explained that “Jerusalem is not presented in the curriculum in an equal manner, so this is where I add from my knowledge.” Regarding the controversial topic of the Nakba, Ali explained: “as a teacher, I am confused – how can I not talk about the Nakba and how can I explain to my students the fact that the Nakba does not appear in the textbook?”. In this case, the identified tension was connected to the relations between the official national curriculum being taught and the students lived experiences that questioned, and in some cases contradicted this official content. As a response to this tension, the teachers chose one of the three options: to ignore the curriculum altogether, to offer alternative teaching materials and to present topics that are not included in the official curriculum but that they found relevant for their students’ lives.

she described, “I think that holding a classroom discussion with them is important, and it works. I let them talk and discuss and even yell in class; this way, they raise these issues”. Abed also stated that “I like classroom discussions and to give students a stage upon which they can have conversations.” Muhammad stressed how he enjoys to “argue and discuss multiple topics with my students.” In fact, in these cases, the teachers chose to lead classroom discussion as a way to enable their students to explore their own identity, pointing to their multiple affiliations. Additionally, some teachers explained that such tensions influence their decisions of which examples to present in class. As they explained, when teaching conceptual topics from the civics curriculum, they will choose to bring examples that mainly reflect the Jewish perspective and not examples that may contradict their students’ lived experiences, and thus create confusion. Omar expressed this approach when relating to the way he teaches the topic of rights, as he explained: “this is a topic that cannot be taught without bringing examples, so I brought the example of people with disabilities.” He continued to explain that “we do not engage in the topic of religion and religion affiliation; I do not want to go there.” In general, these excerpts point to the complex social reality in which these teachers teach, mainly impacted by the tensions relating to their and their students’ identities, wavering between the local and national spheres, highlighting the contradictions that exist. Holding classroom discussions and the choice of which examples to present in class were identified as two pedagogical practices that assisted them when dealing with this reality. 4.2. Between the official curriculum and students’ lived experiences The second identified tension related to the official civics curriculum, which is identical and unified across the different educational streams. Participants explained that, on the one hand, teaching a joint curriculum does have the potential to develop respect between the Jewish and Arab-Palestinian groups. However, on the other hand, they felt that this particular curriculum ignored the distinctive characteristics of the Arab-Palestinian minority group, offering a deformed representation of their students’ lived experiences. Nur raised a general concern regarding the teaching of civics, describing how her students “show contempt towards this subject-matter, they do not understand why it is important and the reasons to learn it.” Relating to the official textbook, Abed explained that “it is tough for me to explain to my students why so few pages are dedicated to them – to their religion, their traditions, it is so few pages, less than 10″. Ali stated

3 An Arabic term that translates literally to “disaster”, that relates to the Palestinian exodus that occurred during the war of 1948, in which ArabPalestinian population fled and were expelled (Morris, 1989).

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students’ role as citizens in the state, balancing the passive and active modes. A central contribution of these findings is the identification of pedagogy and teaching practices as an important coping mechanism, enabling the teachers to deal with such ideological tensions, as will be discussed following.

4.3. Between active and passive modes of citizenship The final and perhaps most apparent tension related to the relationships between the Arab-Palestinian citizens and the state. The teachers expressed their frustration regarding the reality in which they need to teach the basic idea of loyalty to the state, as expressed in the official curriculum while considering their and their students’ status as second rate citizens. Abed stated that “being a civics teacher, and a citizen is not at all easy…The state of Israel is only a limited democracy”. When asked for example about the balance between the Jewish aspects of the state and its democratic characteristics, Muhammad stated that “there is a problem with this combination, once you combine the two the state is not democratic anymore. Why do they have to say Jewish? What about the other citizens?”. When asked if she sees Israel as a democratic state, Nur answered: “yes and no, and I do not want to continue since it is a sensitive topic.” Ahmad also related to this aspect of teaching civics, explaining that “my students understand that the content we learn does not relate to Israel’s Arab citizens and that it is not relevant for them.” Ali also related to the confusion that this reality creates among his students, explaining that “sometimes it is hard for me to explain to my students why Israel is considered a democracy…I teach about rights and the elections, but they feel that such aspects are not relevant for them as an Arab minority”. Since the state employs the teachers, some of the participants expressed their fear that they may be considered too critical. However, when relating to their students, they encouraged such a critical stance. In fact, as a pedagogical approach, these teachers created a clear separation between the ways they presented their mode of citizenship and those of their students. When relating to themselves, they portrayed a passive mode of citizenship, as explained by Omar who stated that “I used to be politically active but am not any more,” and continued to explain that in general “the Arabs in Israel are passive, not active citizens.” In contrast, when referring to their students, the teachers did encourage an active critical stance toward the state as a civic ideal. Muhammad, for example, stated that “my motto is that I want a student that is active” explaining this approach

5. Discussion Building on the theoretical frameworks, pedagogy and classroom practices emerged from this study as a remedy to the complex social and political realities of Palestinian-Arab minority civics teachers in Israel. Alexander’s (2001, 2009) distinction between practical and ideological stances serve as an analytical lens, showing the key role of pedagogical choices. Even more than their general ideologies or personal perceptions, classroom practices enabled the participants to lead their civics lessons despite the inherent pitfalls that the teaching of this subject matter in such a context entails. Thus, these findings further our understanding of how practical pedagogical aspects of civic education hold a clear ideological stance, empowering and encouraging minority students to have their voices heard in the national sphere (Banks, 2008). This aspect of the use of classroom practice as a coping mechanism is unique when considering the main elements mentioned in the existing literature surrounding minority teachers, that mainly dealt with the content taught, educational goals and outcomes (Saada, 2013); the teachers function as role models (Atkins et al., 2014; Scott and Rodriguez, 2015); and the teachers’ processes of self-reflection (Salinas and Castro, 2010). These elements were also identified in studies that focused on educational initiatives in conflict-ridden contexts (Bekerman and McGlynn, 2007), emphasizing the need to employ a critical lens while highlighting the power structures that inflamed such struggles (Gallagher, 2009). The social and political realities in Israel impose upon the Palestinian-Arab minority teachers a real educational challenge in which the civics subject-matter is taught while considering the conflictual surrounding, leading to the three central tensions identified. Their choice to emphasize pedagogical teaching practices, more than personal, professional, and ideological elements, is what enabled them to deal with this reality. Thus, the findings stress the critical role of pedagogy, including both its practical and ideological stances, as a central coping mechanism to be used by educators.5 Foremost, the choice of which examples to present in order to demonstrate theoretical ideas enabled the teachers to ensure that such examples do not conflict with the students' cultural norms (Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Paris, 2012). Second, the holding of classroom discussion was seen by them not just as a way to create an exchange of ideas (Hess, 2009; Hess and McAvoy, 2014; Parker and Hess, 2001), but rather as an opportunity to create a safe pedagogical space in which students can reflect on social and political topics. In this regard, whereas the result of Agbaria and Pinson’s (2019) inquiry pointed to how teachers focused on “the local contexts as the main arena for civic engagement” (p. 405), in this case, such discussions expanded the realm of such engagement, forcing students to relate to the national level as well. Third, the choice to avoid the official curriculum while offering alternative teaching materials, relating to current events (Swalwell and Schweber, 2016) as well as to the non-curriculum (Resh and Benavot, 2009), was seen as a way to deal with the students’ feelings of alienation. And fourth, the use of various teaching methods encouraged students to be active critical citizens despite their second rate status. It was this choice to focus on students’ potential as future active citizens (Banks, 2008; Jansen et al., 2006), and not on a given mode of citizenship that already exists, that enabled teachers to find the balance

my students are citizens in this state, so that is why civics is so important … they need to be able to identify injustice and to create a dialogue. I want a better future for my students, so they have to learn when to say positive things and when to be critical. Moreover, know how to build an argument. Following this approach, several participants demonstrated through various teaching practices practical venues in which citizens could potentially act. Nur explained “I constantly try to demonstrate to my students that what we learn is also something they can do, show them how we can take the things we learn and use them to advance themselves as Arab citizens in this country. So we visited the Knesset,4 held mock elections in class, I try to show them a lot of short movie clips and a whole lot of other methods I use in class”. This identified tension touches on the core of the civics subjectmatter – the will to encourage students to become active citizens, and the questions this goal raises when considering the teachers and students’ status as second rate citizens. Using multiple pedagogical approaches enabled these teachers to present multiple venues in which their students could exercise this active mode of citizenship, despite the social and political realities. To sum, these findings traced three central ideological tensions that dominated the participants' reflections on the teaching of civics in an Arab-Palestinian classroom. Whereas the first tension touched on the topic of students’ conflicting identities, the second related to how they interact with the official civics curriculum, particularly when it contradicts their lived experiences. The third tension focused on the

4

5 See Table 2 – three main ideological tensions and pedagogical solutions as coping mechanisms.

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Table 2 Three Main Identified Tensions and Pedagogical Solutions as Coping Mechanisms. Tension

Pedagogical Solutions

Coping Mechanism

Between conflicting identities

Choice of examples Classroom discussions

Between the official curriculum and students’ lived experiences

Avoiding official content while offering alternative teaching materials and relating to the non-curriculum Current events Using various teaching methods such as field trips, mock elections, and short movie clips

Examples that do not conflict with the students’ cultural norms Pedagogical spaces that offer students to reflect on social and political topics in a safe environment An answer to those cases in which the content of the official curriculum may potentially lead to alienation on behalf of the students

Between active and passive modes of citizenship

A focus on students’ potential future as active citizens

be seen as the primary objective of civic education in our time. It is important to point out that, as mentioned, due to the delicate reality of Arab-Palestinians in Israel, this study focused on the narratives of teachers as presented in personal interviews, that included a small sample of teachers. With all of its methodological advantages, such personal reflections may be limited because they focus on the participants’ self-declarations, which may not always coincide with what actually goes own in reality behind the closed classroom door. Therefore, future studies may wish to examine the enacted curriculum (Marsh and Willis, 1995; Wojcik, 2010) of such minority teachers, as well as expand more on the experiences of the minority students studying in such classrooms. Such studies will broaden our understandings of the civic education processes, for the advantage of all citizens.

between their professional and social-cultural roles. 6. Conclusions Paraphrasing Grossman (2011), we may claim that educational processes never occur in a vacuum. Social and political realities will always find their ways into the classrooms, particularly when teaching political loaded subjects such as civics. This study of Arab-Palestinian civics teachers that teach in the Israeli school system makes for a compelling example of teachers from minority groups who deal with a curriculum written mainly by and for the majority, in a conflictual reality. Thus it helps in understanding how such social and political tensions manifest in educational settings, exposing power relations within educational systems. The findings that emerged as a result of this study, which showed the teachers’ emphasis on pedagogy and teaching practices, offers an example of how teachers can promote an active mode of citizenship while dealing with disadvantaged students’ expressions of indifference, alienation, and oppression. Considering our current age of globalization, in which educational systems are required to prepare students to integrate into the global environment, such an approach may potentially enable minority students from various national settings to develop their authentic voices, and more importantly – ensure that these voices be heard on both local and national levels. Ultimately, such a goal may

Acknowledgments In order to conduct this study, I highly relayed on the following research assistants who helped in the data collection stage (in alphabetical order): Adam Asad, Noah Hojberg, Hala Marshood, and Ilana Pechersky. This work was supported by The Center for the Study of Multiculturalism and Diversity, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Appendix A. Interview protocol 1. What is your personal and professional background?2. How do you see the reality of Arab-Palestinians in Israel today? 3. What are the goals of the teaching of civics (probe for knowledge, values and behavioral goals)? 4. What do you think about the official curriculum? The textbook? The Bagrut exam? 5. What are your aims and goals in the classes you teach?6. What pedagogical practices do you implement in your class?7. What are the main challenges and dilemmas you encounter as a teacher? Appendix B. Sample list of codes and categories for data analysis

Code

Category

Citizenship Active citizenship Identity Rights Local community Goals The civics subject matter Textbook The Bagrut exam Teaching practices Current events

Tensions

Curriculum

Pedagogy

Appendix C. Sample quotes compiled under code “identity”

Data Source

Quote

Interview with Omar

“Students need to start to create their own identity. I am not sure how much they can achieve in creating a whole full identity, but we try as much as we can to raise their awareness to reality so that afterward they can create their own identity.”

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“I saw that there was a problem for them in defining their identity. Each student gave a different definition – some said that they are Palestinians, others said that they are Muslims, one said that she is Arab and one said that she does not know”. with Nur “Students today are not connected to their identity.” with Ab- “Students arrive at school unprepared regarding their identity. Moreover, that is hard for me as a teacher. The unclear identity of the Arab population is a fact. They do not have a clear definition who is Arab? Who is Jewish?”. with Ab- “learning civics just confuses them more in their journey of creating their own identity.” with Ad-

with Ali

“Civics needs to create an Israeli identity.”

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