Edna Shoham

Novice Teachers' Reasoning when Analysing Educational Cases

This article examines the reasoning of 25 novice teachers as they analysed cases that took place in the course of their teaching. The data were derived from a set of case analyses written by novice teachers and were subjected to quantitative and qualitative analyses. Their reasoning was examined in three stages: the description of the case, the proposed solutions of the dilemma and the choice of preferred solution. The data revealed the following trends: (a) at all three stages the teachers focused on the persons actively involved in the case (learners, teacher) and rarely on the wider circles of the school and the community; (b) at the first and second stages the teachers related mainly to the learners, and at the third stage to the teacher; (c) the teachers focused on dimensions identified as directly related to the cases (behavioural, emotional, academic) and far less on aspects indirectly touching upon them (socio-economic, cultural); (d) the teachers related mainly to the immediate effect of the proposed solutions to the problem and rarely to long-term effects.

Arab Teachers and Holocaust Education: Arab Teachers Study Holocaust Education in Israel.

Abstract This article examines whether a change has taken place in the attitude of Arab teachers in Israel towards Holocaust education following an in-service study course. The research findings show that after the course the teachers had a better understanding of what took place during the Holocaust and their willingness to know about the tragedy that befell the Jewish people in the Holocaust increased. Nevertheless, the study indicates that the major difficulty with Holocaust education for Arab teachers derives from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and from the teachers’ difficulty in ceasing to view the Holocaust and the ‘ Nakba ’ [the Arab downfall in 1948] as equivalent tragedies.

From policy to practice: integrated curriculum planning and teacher professionalism in Israeli elementary schools[1]

Abstract This article examines two aspects of the development of an educational policy – ‘Integrated Curriculum Planning’ – in six Israeli elementary schools: the teachers’ understanding of the main concepts of the integrative approach and the characteristics of school-based integrative curricula. The research revealed that the teachers are only partially acquainted with the main concepts of the integrative approach and that their understanding of these concepts is largely intuitive. Teams of teachers are therefore planning curricular activities while lacking the appropriate theoretical background, and this affects the nature and quality of the integrative curricula developed in schools. In order to ensure the transition from discipline-based curricula to integrated curriculum planning, there is a need to act on three levels: (a) teacher education; (b) in-service training and guidance; and (c) the educational system and budgeting.

Social and Academic Integration of City and Kibbutz Youth

Summary The article describes two kibbutz secondary schools that have absorbed city children and seeks to examine whether and to what extent kibbutz educational perceptions reflect integration between kibbutz and city children. In both schools absorption and integration are central educational themes. This policy is expressed in arrangements in both schools and kibbutz that stress social and academic integration of the city children with their kibbutz peers. Components of collective education, which emphasize values, cooperation, and education for a life of work contribute much to the encounter with city children. This group is exposed to varied venues of social and work activities, and this advances the process of integration into the absorbing society. However, the situation is different with regard to individualistic components in the educational policy that nurture individual achievements. These obstruct integration, because those doing the absorbing fear that academic progress will suffer as a result of taking in students from weaker population strata.

A Field‐guided Exercise for the Study of Heterogeneous Classroom Conversation in Teacher Education

Abstract Classroom conversations have emerged as an important aspect of educational research. Through them, teachers pursue their personal instructional goals. Classroom discourse may also promote the unification of the cognitive and social development of students. This paper reports an analysis of classroom discourse in an Israeli junior‐high school during a single academic year. Students statements were analysed according to set criteria, and teachers’ statements are also briefly considered. The use of such field‐based analysis may assist beginning teachers to make sense of the notion of meaningful learning.

Kibbutz Values in School‐based Curricula for Kibbutz Studies

Abstract This paper addresses the question of how the values of the kibbutz are presented and tested in six school‐based curricula. The research reported here indicated that kibbutz values in school‐based curricula are studied mainly by the examination of these values as ideals vis‐a‐vis the probability of their realisation and their practical application. Planners and teachers alike attempt to cope with this gap by promoting tolerance towards a partial and compromising realisation of values which fall short of absolute ideals, and by examining practical solutions to dilemmas of principle explicit in kibbutz life. Moreover, the findings indicate that the most frequently practised way to present and teach kibbutz values is a neutral, objective approach that does not oblige the teacher to take a stand. This apparently stems from the ambivalent attitude of the teachers as individual kibbutz members towards the kibbutz way of life.