Teachers and their collective mission

Abstract

This paper reports on research carried out in 1994, when teachers had to deal with the Ministry-defined theme of 'Israel in an era of peace', Participants included 83 teachers employed in state schools - 31 men and 46 women; 48 (Jews) in schools where Hebrew is the language of instruction and 35 (Palestinians) from state schools in which Arabic is the language of instruction. In teachers' responses to queries on historical events there are indications of how teachers relate to the reality created outside of school. In all the interviews teachers present themselves as people who avoid confrontation, with a keen awareness that there are right and wrong ways to deflect clashes. In general, interpretations by Jewish teachers do not combine easily with a policy of educating students for peace. For many of them, reality means serving the goals of a state which cannot avoid conflict, and negating this definition threatens the perception of what constitutes adequate professional performance. Teachers in Arabic-speaking schools, on the other hand, while adopting a similar outlook on professional action viewed the changes in state policy as the promise of comprehensive academic achievement and of overall progress for education in the Arabic-speaking sector.