Israel is a multi-cultural migration country and its education system face the challenges of equality and inclusion. This is comparative qualitative research based on a model that evaluates the development of intercultural competence. The purpose of the study is to examine the perceptions and attitudes of inter-cultural competence development in two groups of students, in which only one of them was involved in extra-curricular learning. The findings show differences between the two groups. Group A, had gained new knowledge in broader cultural contexts and had a deeper insight on creating a pluralistic professional identity, cultural-emotional commitment and strengthens the relationship between teaching and culture than the Group B. Moreover, the students in group A were more practical and dynamic and created a link between the content of the lesson and the children's origin culture. They allow discussion of controversial issues and encourage the children to share personal stories.
Educators in Israel face significant school diversity while struggling to adequately respond to the unique needs of diverse national and cultural communities and students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Bible teachers in elementary school face tensions and conflicts between the religious concepts and beliefs of the parents and the children and the accepted concepts in Israeli Jewish society. This qualitative study was conducted among fifteen teachers working in elementary schools in the country’s center where students from national, religious, social, and social–cultural populations attend, including children from families of asylum seekers. The findings revealed two central tensions: (1) emotional religious tension and (2) pedagogical tension. It was found that Bible teachers play the role of social–religious mediators in Israeli society. In the context of religious tension, teachers find themselves in situations of uncertainty, without the pedagogical skills to help them bridge the gaps and soften the strain. As a result, they are passive and remain silent. On the other hand, in the context of pedagogical tension, the teachers try to take the initiative, go beyond the boundaries of the familiar and known, and try to adapt classroom activities to the culture of the country of origin and the everyday social contexts.
Not much attention has been paid to the children of migrant families in the receiving Israeli society. Our research focuses on how migrant children cope with future orientation and challenges how those children perceive their future course of life. This study speaks with the voices of the children, as represented in their personal stories and interviews, and reveals their interpretation of their futures, their integration in the receiving society, and the significance they accord to the events, activities and experiences they have undergone. Our findings reveal that in the area of future life course the children expressed a positive approach to school, to matriculation, to work and fulfilling future ambitions. In contrast in the area of existential life course children expressed a negative view and most of them reported that it is difficult for immigrant families live in Israel, and therefore they would prefer to migrate to another country.
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