Session Information
15 SES 11, Turbulence, Empowerment and Marginalised Groups in International Education Governance Systems Part 1
Symposium to be continued in 15 SES 12
Contribution
The growing sense of crisis that accompanies those working in education systems stems from tension between modern characteristics of the education system and the continuously rapidly changing reality of the post-modern world. In this context, the global spread of educational research and theory in more developed economies has had a tremendous impact on what is taught and tested in less developed countries and on the organizational forms of schooling (Arnova, Torres & Franz, 2013; Waite, Rodríguez & Wadende, 2015). Yet in all countries, public education is a unique arena with a particular structure and characteristic processes. This arena is restricting and perhaps even prevents the attribution of professional responsibility in a simple manner to individuals, allowing those who wish to avoid responsibility to do just that (Moloi, Gravett, & Petersen, 2009). School superintendents play a key role in mobilizing school performance, especially when dealing with centralization and accountability systems (Harvey, Cambron-McCabe, Cunningham, and Koff, 2013). Schools and governing bodies are operating in constantly changing and challenging environments (Waite et al., 2015). The Arab education system faces a number of major challenges including its structural subordination to the Jewish state education system, which determines the contents of its learning programs and continuously demands "loyalty" in exchange for government financial support (Abu-Saad, 2006). The Arab education system also faces the challenge of inferior educational achievements reflecting a concentration of disadvantages due largely to the low socio-economic status of Arab society in comparison to Jewish society. The present study aims to investigate a particular state of turbulence in the Arab education system in Israel using qualitative methodology and in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven Arab supervisors who can potentially alter the appearance of the Arab education system. Evidence reveals facilitating stakeholders’ tight coordinated networking may turn out to be the most cost-efficient and effective method for improving the delivery of education to Arab students. Moreover, and despite the need to reinforce Arab students' unique cultural identity, there should also be an attempt to move from competing ideals, to values that bring about competing political projects that stress common values and can enhance mutual understanding and multicultural education. This can be achieved through open and candid interaction and cooperation between the different stakeholders in the Arab education system in order to decrease distance and disagreement between them, and engender social cohesion through constructive dialogue and power sharing instead of controlling governmental practices.
References
Abu-Saad, I. (2006). State-controlled education and identity formation among the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel. American Behavioral Scientist. 49, 1085-1100. Arar, K. (2012). Israeli education policy since 1948 and the state of Arab education in Israel. Italian Journal of Sociology of Education. 1, 113-145. Arar, K., & Abu-Asbah, K. (2013). ‘Not just location’: Attitudes and perceptions of education system administrators in local Arab governments in Israel. International Journal of Educational Management. 27(1), 54-73. Arar, K., & Masry-Herzallah, A. (2017). Progressive education and the case of bilingual Arab-Jewish coexistence school in Israel. School Leadership & Management, 37(1-2), 38–60. Arnova, R.F., Torres, C.A., & Franz, S. (2013). Comparative education: The dialectic of global and local. Lanham: Rowan & Littlefield. Harvey, J., Cambron-McCabe, N., Cunningham, L.L., & Koff, R.H. (2013). The superintendent’s fieldbook. (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Moloi, K., Gravett, S., & Petersen, N. (2009). Globalization and its impact on education with specific reference to education in South Africa. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 37(2), 278–297. Waite, D., Rodríguez, G., & Wadende, A. (2015). Globalization and the business of educational reform. In: J. Zajda (ed.), Second international handbook in globalization, education and policy research (pp. 353-374). Dordrecht: Springer.
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