Session Information
01 SES 01 C, Initial Teacher Education in Various Contexts
Paper Session
Contribution
The current study examines teachers' processes throughout an online teachers' professional development (TPD) program and an interactive activity, where 68 teachers shared their cultural components with teachers from other cultures.
People within countries are diverse in many aspects, such as race, ethnicity, origin, gender, age, family, and disabilities (Aylward and Mitten 2022; Banks and Banks 2019; Dhiman et al. 2019; Ghazaie, Rafieian, and Dadashpoor 2021). For example, Israel has a diverse and multifaceted society, and its public education system is divided into multiple cultures and, sometimes, deep social-cultural rifts (Sabbagh and Resh 2014; van de Weerd 2020). Particularly, Israel’s public education system is divided into a Jewish system, which is again divided into several subsystems (secular schools, religious schools, and independent ultra-religious schools), and an Arab system (Abu-Saad 2019; Agbaria 2018). As a result, secular, religious ultra-orthodox, and Arab teachers rarely meet or work together. Further, students from these groups do not meet or know each other.
Under such circumstances, managing diversity effectively is crucial for societies worldwide and in Israel. For example, celebrating diversity is the key to greater productivity, increased creativity, and heightened workplace morale and motivation (Dhiman, Modi, and Kumar 2019). Urban areas and cities can break segregation and turn diversity into a creative force for innovation, growth, well-being, and safe places for the residents (Ghazaie, Rafieian, and Dadashpoor 2021; Fincher et al. 2014). Within this, social inclusion in schools is an important goal, supporting social-emotional and academic success for all students (Hymel and Katz 2019; Walsh, Fogel-Grinvald, and Shneider 2015; Pizmony-Levy and Kosciw 2016).
Indeed, it is possible to improve intergroup relations and celebrate diversity and societal multiculturalism through the contact hypothesis by encouraging meetings between cultures under appropriate conditions, face-to-face and online (Dovidio, Eller, and Hewstone 2011; Amzalag and Shapira 2021; Vezzali et al. 2014; Pettigrew et al. 2011). Thus, we based the current research on the assumption that we can foster a multicultural approach and celebrate diversity in the Israeli educational system through meetings and discussions between teachers from different cultures as the first phase before meetings between the students. Another assumption is that the meetings themselves are not enough. The teachers should meet, discuss, and learn about other teachers’ core cultural components (Hidalgo, 2013; Sever, 2014, 2016; Spencer-Oatey, 2012). Moreover, these meetings and discussions can occur online considering the separation in the Israeli educational system and the promise by scholars that online contact improves intergroup relations (Amzalag and Shapira 2021).
To foster meaningful meetings and discourses between teachers in Israeli society, we designed a Teachers Professional Development (TPD) program called ‘educators for shared society.’
The online TPD program aimed to accompany teachers who wanted to promote a shared society through:
- meaningful meetings and discourses among teachers from different cultures
- creating pairs of teachers from different cultures
- planning a shared program for students
- implementing the program in the classrooms
The current research presents the whole process of the TPD program. It focuses on the first phase of the program: a meeting that was conducted through an interactive presentation. On the first slide of the presentation, an explanation was presented outlining what culture is and what the core and peripheral components of culture are. Each teacher was asked to add a picture representing their culture, write about the picture and respond to two teachers from other cultures.
The research questions guiding our research are:
- What changes occurred in the teachers’ attitudes regarding multiculturalism before and after the TPD program?
- What cultural characteristics appeared in the interactive activity during the TPD program?
- What characterizes the connection between the teachers during the TPD program?
Method
This study combines quantitative and qualitative data to provide a rich and comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon investigated (Cohen et al. 2018). We conducted our research as part of an online TPD program from October to January (20212022). This program was published at the Center for Educational Technology (CET) in Tel Aviv, Israel. Participants Ninety-one teachers started the TPD program and 68 completed the program (14 men and 54 women). The average participant age was 40.12 years (S.D = 9.8). Most of the participants teach in Jewish state schools (74%), 15% teach in Arab state schools, 6% teach in religious public schools, 2% in orthodox schools, and 3% in other kinds of schools. Thirty-one participants teach in elementary schools and the remainder in middle and high schools. Twenty-five participants teach science or mathematics and 43 teach humanities. Most participants (56%) have a bachelor’s degree, 38% have advanced degrees, and all the others have a teaching certificate. Data-collection and data-analysis methods We used quantitative data from 68 respondents on the pre-and post-questionnaire and qualitative data from 86 participants’ slides in a collaborative presentation. Research tools Questionnaire We used a pre-and-post-questionnaire which consisted of two parts: 1) Demographic background and 2) Attitudes toward Multiculturalism. All the items are the same in the pre-and post-questionnaire. The items are based on Maruyama et al., 2000; Pohan and Aguilar, 2001, and Holladay et al., 2003. All the items except demographic background used a Likert scale (1=not true at all; 5=very true). Slide content analysis: We analyzed the slides using Narralizer software (http://www.narralizer.com). The content analysis was based on core and peripheral cultural components (Sever 2016; Spencer 2012).
Expected Outcomes
The teachers who signed up for the TPD program had positive attitudes toward multiculturalism. Therefore, there was no significant change in their attitudes following the TPD program. Simultaneously, one factor significantly changed: Social connections between people from different cultures. Considering the complex situation and the lack of opportunities to meet different groups in Israeli society and the educational system (Sabbagh and Resh 2014; Agbaria 2018b), the online TPD program allowed the teachers to meet other teachers they usually do not meet. These meetings and connections occurred despite the tensions and social rifts in Israeli society. Moreover, the teachers mainly shared their core cultural components, such as identity, values, family, food and the story behind it, history, and language, in the pictures they chose and the text they wrote. Also, in pictures that present visible artifacts (Sever 2016), they added the stories behind them or how they interpret them (Banks and Banks 2019). Indeed, multicultural societies should wish to learn about and accept these diverse core cultural values (Sever 2016). The current research demonstrates how it is possible to learn about core cultural values through an online TPD program and an interactive activity that foster meaningful intercultural meetings among teachers from various groups. The teachers looked for similar characteristics and commonalities and tried to avoid controversial issues, mentioning that everyone is connected as human beings. Indeed, teachers in diverse societies tend to look for commonalities when they meet each other (Amzalag and Shapira 2021). Despite the social-cultural rifts (Sabbagh and Resh 2014) and the division in Israel’s public education system (Abu-Saad 2019; Agbaria 2018a), the teachers expressed positive emotions and identification with each other. Thus, we argue that distant groups can be brought together through an online acquaintance and an interactive presentation, which encourages the sharing of core cultural components
References
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