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Students from disadvantaged or minority backgrounds are often underrepresented in public educational programmes for the gifted and talented (G&T), a phenomenon that has concerned educators for the last two decades. Ethiopian-Israeli minority students (EIMS) are a good example of this phenomenon, as more than 95% of the vast resources allocated to promoting this minority population are directed to advancing underachieving students. To explain the roots of this policy, we analysed all reports presented to the Israeli parliament regarding EIMS during the years 2000-2012, as well as all studies that these reports were based on. A policy discourse analysis revealed that the public-political discourse concerning EIMS focuses almost entirely on the weaknesses and needs of this population. In addition, this discourse is led by policy networks of interest groups that are involved in promoting minority students. Analysis of the relative achievement levels of EIMS suggests that some students, and especially those in lower school grades, are suitable candidates for integration within G&T frameworks. We suggest that a change of the discourse concerning EIMS and emphasizing their strengths may lead to a change in policy, which will promote G&T students and reduce the 'stereotype threat' within this group.

As a contribution to the efforts to understand the influence of peer presence on self-regulated learning, this paper studies students' reaction to a project-based activity, the final product of which was a scientific communication to peers. In this activity, "peer lecturing," the students formulate a question on a topic linked to the course, search scientific information in order to answer the question, and teach the result of their investigations to their class in the form of a whole-class communication. The paper draws on the qualitative analysis of 23 interviews of first-year student teachers involved in "peer lecturing" in the framework of an introductory zoology course. In this study, the expressed gains in self-regulated learning described by the students are compared to the gains reported in the literature in other project-based methods and in peer teaching. Original gains in motivation ("social goals"), cognitive processes and self-regulation, are highlighted, while stressing differences between student types. Further development of the method is suggested.

In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

The purpose of this paper is to share the evolution of a sociological framework to investigate the experience of teaching and learning music in relation to the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in the occupied Palestinian territories. The primary foundation of the framework is Christopher Small's (1998) theory of musicking, supported by the concept of third place from urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg (1999) and the reconceptualization of music education as cultural practice suggested by educational researcher Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández (2007, 2011). Preliminary findings suggest that Small's theory is particularly apt because of its focus on ideal relationships between infinite combinations of people, places, and sounds. [This paper was presented at the 9th International Symposium on the Sociology of Music Education (2015).]

This paper presents the outcomes of the preliminary survey in which the method of IFS was used to integrate motivating questions into the lecture presentations in order to increase the students' involvement. Instant Feedback System (IFS) enables the educators to improve their own teaching by getting instant and real-time feedback about how clear the lesson for the students is; it also advances the students' participation and active involvement that improves the understanding of the learned materials. Our long term objectives are to conduct a series of studies to explore both technological and didactic aspects of integrating the IFS system into engineering education. As a first step in our long journey, we designed a new academic course of analog electronics with motivating questions embedded. A ten minute micro exam was conducted every three weeks, during the lesson. The students expressed opinions like:" my recommendation is to keep teaching this way. I believe in active learning during the lectures, it motivates me to come and participate in the lectures." And: "It drives the students to participate in all the lectures of the course. The motivating questions and the micro exams are an efficient tool to bring the students into the lectures." Half of the students chose to participate in one micro exam at least while the other half did not; the academic achievements of the motivated group showed a 26 points advantage in comparison to the other group. The lecturer's conclusions and his perceptions are described in this paper as well.

The analysis of exemplars of different quality is a potentially powerful tool in enabling students to understand assessment expectations and appreciate academic standards. Through a systematic review methodology, this paper synthesises exemplar-based research designs, exemplar implementation and the educational effects of exemplars. The review of 40 empirical exemplar-based studies indicated frequent use of post-intervention evaluation designs. The integrated use of exemplars and strategies such as rubrics, peer or self-assessment was a major pedagogic feature to enhance students' understanding of standards and aid their generation of internal feedback for self-monitoring. There was evidence suggesting that the combined use of exemplars with these strategies could advance students' academic performance and development of self-regulated learning. The review results set future directions for exemplar-based studies: quantitative research would benefit from controlled manipulation of variables to disentangle the effects of exemplars and those of other strategies; qualitative research could profitably use self-reflective diaries, think aloud protocols or classroom observations to develop deeper understandings of exemplar implementation. The key pedagogical implication recommends students' production of an assignment draft prior to exposure to exemplars so that they can compare their own work with exemplars and then make improvements independently of teachers.

Aim/Purpose: In this paper, we analyze the phenomenon of "classroom WhatsApp groups", in which a teacher and students from a particular classroom interact with one another, while specifically focusing on the student perspective of these interactions. Background: The instant messaging application WhatsApp enables quick, interactive multimedia communication in closed groups, as well as one-on-one interactions between selected group members. Yet, very little is known about the extent, nature, and purposes of these practices, the limitations and affordances, the type of discourse and conflicts that develop in these spaces, and the extent to which it affects teacher-student interactions outside of WhatsApp (e.g., the social climate in class, the teacher's status, teacher-student and student-student relations), especially from the students' perspective. Methodology: Our methodology combines questionnaires, personal interviews, and focus groups with Israeli secondary school students (N = 88). Contribution: The present study adds to the expanding body of empirical research on social media use in educational settings by specifically focusing on a heretofore underexposed aspect, namely, secondary school student-teacher communication in the popular instant messaging application WhatsApp. We report on findings from the student perspective and discuss the advantages and limitations of this form of communication sphere, and on the social functions of the different classroom WhatsApp groups in secondary school students' everyday life. Findings: The combined findings reveal that classroom WhatsApp groups have become a central channel of communication for school-related topics. It is used primarily for organizational purposes (sending and receiving updates and managing learning activities), as well as a means for teachers to enforce discipline. Students mentioned many advantages of WhatsApp communication, such as easy access, the ability to create communities, the ability to safeguard personal privacy, and the communication format (written, mediated, personal, or group). However, they also recognized limitations (i.e., communication overload) and challenged teacher ability to monitor and affect student interactions in social media, even when they are present in these WhatsApp classroom groups. Finally, we report on the role of parallel, sans-teacher WhatsApp groups, which are characterized as back stage discourse arenas that accompany the front stage offline classroom activities and the "official" classroom WhatsApp group. Recommendations for Practitioners: The combined findings of this study indicate how WhatsApp-based, joint teacher-student groups can serve a variety of educational purposes, namely, organizational, instructional, and educational-disciplinary. In addition, and in spite of teachers concerns, students are aware of the challenges inherent to the use of WhatsApp for communication with their teachers. Some of the main characteristics that prevent teachers from using other ubiquitous digital communication media, such as Facebook or Twitter, are not relevant when it comes to WhatsApp. Both teachers and students view WhatsApp as a favored channel of communication because of the low exposure to personal information and minimal invasion of privacy. Future Research: The qualitative methodology of this paper limits the ability to generalize the current findings to other contexts and population groups. Future research should preferably explore the generalizability of our findings to larger sections of teenage populations. It should also explore similarities and differences with other age groups. Finally, the present study was set in a particular country (Israel). Local norms of cellphone use and of appropriate teacher-student interaction, as well as locally developed media domestication patterns, may differ from country to country and/or from one cultural group to another. Future research should then include and compare the current findings with data from different countries and cultures in order to complete the picture.

This paper aims to identify key issues involved in MEd final project supervision and to highlight the potential of supervision from an academic institution to change educational reality through the postgraduate student-teachers' work-based final project as insider researchers in Israeli schools. It draws on analysis of case-study data from two supervision workshops for student-teachers (Although most students studying for MEd degrees in Israel are teachers or even principals with years of experience of teaching and sometimes management they will be referred to in this paper as student-teachers for uniformity and clarity.) in a master's degree programme in Educational Leadership. It focuses on data generated from interviews with three supervisees. The paper's findings highlight the supervision process, indicating stages of this process that assist students to develop their research skills in order to change school reality in different scopes and dimensions and to adopt inquiry as a stance. The student-teachers identify difficulties in schools and motivate and help to implement educational change. In short, the paper provides a model that can potentially enrich practice in the field with knowledge generated by academic research and bridge the gap between theory and practice.

This paper seeks to improve our understanding of the challenges faced by teachers and student-teachers in the process of implementing small group work (SGW) in early childhood education (ECE). In light of the discrepancy between the clear benefits of SGW in education--its solid theoretical foundation--and its sparse and poor implementation, we posed the following research questions: (a) What are Israeli teachers' perceptions of and attitudes toward small group work and its implementation in ECE? And (b) What do teachers see as problematic or, conversely, helpful in overcoming difficulties related to its implementation in ECE? Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed: a questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions to measure the attitudes and perceptions of thirty experienced teachers, as well as action research documenting the implementation of SGW in two cases. Findings showed more positive attitudes toward SGW than toward the feasibility of its implementation, which was frequently associated with drilling skills, rather than discourse that supports the construction of knowledge. Difficulties in implementing SGW included a lack of coordinated staff work and the absence of routines and planning of space and time. The action research indicated that the effective implementation of SGW necessitates planning, observation, and documentation of both the interactions in groups as well as classroom management aspects related to its implementation, and that it requires a commitment to the children's well-being and learning.

This paper focus on defining a research question while conducting action research among third-year students attending a course on Research Literacy at a teacher education college. This paper discusses the process of preparing for and conducting action research among third-year students attending a course on Research Literacy at a teacher education college. The students were asked to conduct an action research on their classroom activities. The aim of this article is to present the process and pinpointing the discomfort of the students in formulating a research question suited to action research thanks to two prerequisite conditions: the "safe space" and the "tender spot." The research findings illustrate that the students had difficulty defining their "tender spot." It was necessary to create a "safe space." Furthermore, the findings show that the "tender spot" issues were associated with disciplinary content far more than with generic lesson management or classroom management issues. The approach discussed here is leading to positive change and it may be that this professional development tool can facilitate the induction of novice teachers everywhere.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the linkage of identity of new and veteran immigrant students of the Ethiopian community in Israel, by examining their attitudes to children's literature books written simultaneously in Hebrew and Amharic. The data were collected using focus groups of Ethiopian students attending a teacher training college. The main findings revealed that they referred to two major types of identity: one type is an unreconciled identity, characterized by defiance, which seeks to minimize the visibility of one's ethnic group within the main culture and tries to adopt the hegemonic identity, whereas the other type of identity contains the original ethnic identity and--in contrast to the first type--tries to reconcile it with the hegemonic culture. Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative study, which emphasis was on participants' attitudes, beliefs and perceptions (Kalka, 2003). The goals of the research were to examine identity perceptions of students of the Beta Israel community, as they are exposed to bilingual literary works in Hebrew and Amharic. Findings: The main findings revealed that they referred to two major types of identity: one type is an unreconciled identity, characterized by defiance, which seeks to minimize the visibility of one's ethnic group within the main culture and tries to adopt the hegemonic identity, whereas the other type of identity contains the original ethnic identity and--in contrast to the first type--tries to reconcile it with the hegemonic culture. Research limitations/implications: This paper has shed light on an important subject and it would be worthwhile to continue the study using other methodologies. Practical implications: This paper contributes to the structuring of a cultural code that serves to organize social meaning and establish individuals' identity. Social implications: This awareness enriches the basis of their own values and allows them to enrich their attitude to their future pupils, for example, to recognize the value of local culture versus that of the immigrants' place of origin, and to develop an understanding and acceptance of the diversity in the classroom. As they take part in building a multicultural Israeli education framework, dealing with identity patterns is also the key to their own integration in society. Originality/value: The originality of the study lies in the usage of two new concepts--unreconciled and reconciled--as referring to the immigrants' identities.

Since the 1970s, Israel's educational policy has been undergoing a change generated by the neo-liberal agenda. In this light, it is not surprising that since the 1990s, Israel's education system has adopted the main characteristics of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM). In light of this, the current research will focus on a newly born pre-K policy formation process that set out as GERM-like in nature, but nevertheless ended up with anti-GERM characteristics. Using historical-narrative qualitative tools, this paper will portray and analyze the main factors that generated the new anti-GERMian reform. We will outline conclusions from the Israeli case study to create a potential conceptual framework that highlights a more complex, hybrid, or dual outlook at the GERM containing its antidote within itself.

One-to-one (1X1) laptop initiatives become prevalent in schools aiming to enhance active learning and assist students in developing twenty-first-century skills. This paper reports a qualitative investigation of all 7th graders and their 15 teachers in a junior high-school in Northern Israel gradually implementing 1X1 model. The research was conducted during a second year of 1X1 implementation at the school level, which was a first year of teaching and learning with laptops for all study participants. The study triangulates non-participant lessons' observations and semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers. The data were collected twice: at the beginning and toward the end of the 2011-2012 academic year--in total, 30 observations and 30 interviews were conducted. The results were examined through phenomenological research techniques and discussed in terms of the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) and "digital wisdom" approaches. The teachers showed significant increase of technological knowledge. However, only moderate connections between technology and pedagogy as well as between technology and content were found. Some of the teachers functioned as moderators, scaffolding students and supporting their individual or collaborative learning. However, many teachers struggled with effective management of 1X1 classroom. Neither conjunction of teacher TPACK nor facilitation of student digital skills was observed. The paper suggests an overlap of the TPACK framework and the digital wisdom approach and provides implications for curriculum developers and educational policy-makers.

This paper presents a study focusing on differences in Israeli Jewish and Arab chemistry teachers' beliefs regarding teaching and learning of chemistry in the upper secondary schools. Israel is a country experiencing the problems of diverse cultural orientation of its inhabitants but applying the same educational system to its diverse cultural sectors. Education includes the same curriculum in chemistry for both the Israeli Jewish and Arab cultural sectors as well as final examinations (matriculation) set centrally by the Ministry of Education. Thus, this study can serve as a striking case for other countries facing similar cultural diversity. The study is based on two different instruments that are both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The qualitative data stem from chemistry teachers' drawings of themselves as teachers in a typical classroom situation accompanied by four open questions. The data analysis follows three qualitative scales: beliefs about classroom organization, beliefs about teaching objectives and epistemological beliefs. A quantitative study gives insights into teachers' beliefs about what characterizes good education. The main goal of the present paper is to determine whether both groups of chemistry teachers with different sociocultural background in Israel hold different views about education in general and chemistry education in particular. The findings provide evidence that in Israeli chemistry classrooms, the beliefs of Arabic teachers differ from those of the Jewish teachers, although both groups live in the same country and operate the same educational system.

This paper describes the impact of the project-based learning (PBL) approach on learning and teaching physics from the perspective of pre-service elementary school teacher education students and an instructor. This approach promoted meaningful learning (mainly in the scope of projects), higher motivation, and active involvement of students in learning during the entire course. It improved students' attitudes towards learning physics, reducing fear, and increasing their self-efficacy and enjoyment of learning. This approach developed essential learning and collaborative skills, and strengthened interpersonal and intercultural interactions among all. Implementing PBL raised several challenges: the tension between the quality of learning and the scope of the course content and the necessity to combine a variety of teaching methods to meet students' learning needs. The paper describes advantages and difficulties from the perspectives of both students and the instructor.

There is no defined theory for teaching Qualitative Inquiry, and very few studies have focused on the topic. This study is a qualitative case study focused on the Qualitative Methods course that I teach at a college of education in Israel. The aim of the study is to explore and describe the course, to provide a true picture of my pedagogy, and to learn from it. The participants are 30 student-teachers, aged 25-46, who teach in elementary schools and have no previous research experience. Research tools used for data collection are 10 observations of the course lessons by a colleague; 10 open self-reflections written by participants; 10 self-reflections of the researcher who is, in this case, also the teacher; participants' feedback for the course; participants' responses to the researcher's routine comments written on students' papers; and field notes. The constant comparative method and the grounded theory techniques are used for analysis. Results show a qualitative research-led pedagogy model which is consistent with the conventional systematic outlook while fostering post-modern epistemological views, high levels of student's self-efficacy, high performance, self-direction, and integrity in conducting research. I hope my description would encourage other researchers to continue exploring new pedagogic strategies for teaching Qualitative Inquiry.

This is a sequel to previous theoretical papers (Gamliel, Reichental, & Eyal, 2007a, 2007b) that proposed a Model of Knowledge in Volume 33 of this journal. The study examines the effects of digital education on intergenerational empowerment and social interaction among participants in the Israeli Multigenerational Connection Program (MCP). The program pairs seniors and children in computer-room activities at primary schools and encourages both groups to benefit by learning from each other. Findings from feedback questionnaires, field observations, and semistructured interviews show that the MCP was successful in building an intergenerational bridge. The flexible structuring of the roles of teacher and pupil contributed to participants' satisfaction with the program, and the intergenerational knowledge exchanges empowered both groups and allowed them to reach out to each other. Implications for educators, both in the community and in mainstream schools, are discussed. [The theoretical papers from volume 33, 2007 of this journal are available in ERIC: "Intergenerational Educational Encounters: Part 1--A Model of Knowledge" -- see EJ753407 and "Intergenerational Educational Encounters: Part 2--Counseling Implications of the Model"--see EJ764131.]

Background: Errors in medication administration by qualified nursing staff in hospitals are a significant risk factor for patient safety. In recent decades, electronic medical records (EMR) systems have been implemented in hospitals, and it has been claimed that they contribute to reducing such errors. However, systematic research on the subject in Israel is scarce. This study examines the position of the qualified nursing staff regarding the impact of electronic medical records systems on factors related to patient safety, including errors in medication administration, workload, and availability of medical information. Methods: This cross-sectional study examines three main variables: Medication errors, workload, and medical information availability, comparing two periods– before and after EMR implementation based on self-reports. A final sample of 591 Israeli nurses was recruited using online private social media groups to complete an online structured questionnaire. The questionnaires included items assessing workload (using the Expanding Nursing Stress Scale), medical information availability (the Carrington-Gephart Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Record Questionnaire), and medical errors (the Medical Error Checklists). Items were assessed twice, once for the period before the introduction of electronic records and once after. In addition, participants answered open-ended questions that were qualitatively analyzed. Results: Nurses perceive the EMR as reducing the extent of errors in drug administration (mean difference = -0.92 ± 0.90SD, p < 0.001), as well as the workload (mean difference = -0.83 ± 1.03SD, p < 0.001) by ∼ 30% on average, each. Concurrently, the systems are perceived to require a longer documentation time at the expense of patients' treatment time, and they may impair the availability of medical information by about 10% on average. Conclusion: The results point to nurses' perceived importance of EMR systems in reducing medication errors and relieving the workload. Despite the overall positive attitudes toward EMR systems, nurses also report that they reduce information availability compared to the previous pen-and-paper approach. A need arises to improve the systems in terms of planning and adaptation to the field and provide appropriate technical and educational support to nurses using them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current article analyses the papers presented at the 2011 BELMAS Conference in order to understand the sorts of works it contained in terms of topics addressed and types of papers, as well as authorship patterns of the presenters. Based on an analysis of 57 works presented at the Conference, it was found that the typical paper was authored by a single individual, who might originate from countries other than the UK. Additionally, the presenter is usually a university member who presents empirical and conceptual works mostly in the area of policy/reforms and headship (leadership) but not solely. Compared to the 2007 BELMAS Conference, some increase in the works authored by practitioners from schools and a variety of educational agencies was observed. A major shift between the conferences is evident in respect to the topics discussed by the presenters. Some suggestions for BELMAS end this paper. (Contains 7 tables.)

This paper examines the content fields of the concept of "teachers' moral courage" in order to conceptualize its boundaries. The study's purpose was to assess the dimensions of morally courageous activity within school life by qualitatively analyzing of 17 Israeli Secular Public School Teachers and 14 Israeli Religious Public School teachers' interviewee defined self-narrative. The findings reveal that the interviewees' answers express a profound understanding about the concept of moral courage, and a content domains definition of morally courageous educational behavior in three realms: the institution, the curriculum and the personal. Moreover, it reveals that the interviewee's claim that the Israeli educational system is characterized by instructional price tags for teachers' morally courageous behavior.

This paper reports the results of a qualitative research study designed to examine the effectiveness of an attempt to make a conceptual change among pre-service teachers to their role as trainees and the role of their pedagogical advisor. The participants are six Arab-Muslim female student teachers who are highly influenced by their first learning experiences, based on rote learning and memorization. Therefore, they tend to prefer ready-made approaches to risk taking, trial and error and enquiry manifested by employing different teaching methods, ideas and techniques. They also tend to prefer authority controlling relationships rather than perceiving learning and teaching as a long-life process. The results indicate some improvement in their inclination to depend on the pedagogical advisor and their willingness to try different methods of teaching, activities and techniques, making mistakes and learning from them. However, more time and ample opportunities for practice are needed to achieve the desired change.

Purpose: Successful visionary educational leaders promote a shared vision with great commitment and manage to connect other organizational members to it. In spite of this, the source of their personal commitment to the organizational vision has not yet been the subject of extended study. The purpose of this paper is to correct this by investigating leaders' personal ethos; the personal experiences and values which form their motives and personality. This paper furthermore considers the influence of personal ethos on the content of the vision promoted in educational organizations. Finally, it explores the link between leaders' personal vision and the organizational vision they promote. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with visionary educational leaders. These interviews were narrative in nature and aimed to explore the development process and the interrelation of personal and organizational vision in an educational framework. Findings: Data indicate that visionary educational leaders do not separate their personal vision from their organizational vision. Furthermore, the educational leaders interviewed told of formative experiences which affected their worldview and shaped their personal ethos. Personal ethos proved to be a key element in formulating the leaders' personal and organization vision. Four prominent factors emerged as central to the personal ethos of educational leaders: identity, culture and values, professional experience, and family. Originality/value: The findings suggest that educational leaders should engage in a process of self-reflection in order to form a significant personal vision to which they can fully commit. Furthermore, the insights of leaders about what is important to them can enable an open dialogue with other organizational members and the development of a shared vision.

This paper reviews and strengthens the data on cultural transfer by Arab Muslim students writing in English and adds the significant element of the cultural impact of Islam on such writing. This qualitative study examines the writing of 18 teacher trainees at an Arab language teacher training college in Israel. Results point to a strong cultural influence appearing in the students' writing. It is suggested that greater consideration should be given to the first and the target culture when designing the curricula for writing classes for Arab L1 students in English writing instruction.

The purpose of this paper is to present the major motives leading senior teachers to be involved in a mentoring process of newly appointed teachers and its benefits for the mentor teacher. Based on semi-structured interviews with 12 experienced teachers who participated in a university-based mentoring program in Israel, the current study found a wide variety of motives, difficulties, and benefits during the mentoring process, including intrinsic and extrinsic motives, emotional rewards, professional benefits, and negative outcomes. Practical implications for mentoring programs are suggested. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the motives, opportunities, and threats associated with the adoption of market-driven externally developed reforms (EDRs) as well as how these motivator factors, combined with background variables, account for school principals' satisfaction with EDR adoption. Design/methodology/approach: Principals from 208 Israeli schools (grades 1-9) completed anonymous self-report questionnaires about the factors motivating their decision to implement EDRs and their satisfaction with these reform programmes in their schools. Validity and reliability tests, bivariate correlations and Pearson tests, paired "t"-tests, and a step-by-step multiple regression analysis were performed to examine the associations between the independent variables (individual and institutional variables, and motives, opportunities, and threats), and principals' satisfaction with aspects of the EDRs. Findings: Participants reported opportunities in the areas of pedagogy, learning excellence, teacher growth, and school climate. Threats were moderate-low and related to school faculty resistance, principals' dependence on stakeholders, and difficulties in implementing EDRs. Of the political and the pedagogic motives, the latter was the sole motive associated with principals' satisfaction with the EDRs. Findings fit within Herzberg's two-factor theory and Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory. Originality/value: Studies on the factors motivating adoption of EDRs are scarce; this is the first to explore motivators' effects on principals' satisfaction. It is likely to help principals and decision makers in educational institutions construe the varied factors that affect the adoption of EDRs from senior officials' viewpoints. Understanding these factors is highly important to the field worldwide because of the growing need to adopt EDRs.

This paper demonstrates the value of researching the emic perceptions expressed by participants of sport for development and peace (SDP) programs about their program. An Israeli SDP program was chosen which addresses Arab children's educational needs through sport. Ten semi-structured interviews were held with participants: two Jewish male managers, two Arab male principals and six Arab female volunteers, and a three-stage qualitative data analysis was implemented. The analysis revealed that the participants had constructed a complex array of different meanings and were switching them in the changing social contexts. In the discussion we provide the following explanatory framework: the emic data revealed an 'impression management' dynamic, which on the one hand exhibits the agency of the participants to control their short-term reality, but on the other hand conceals a miscommunication problem and discrepancies that weaken the impact of the program as a whole. Better dialogue between the actors may present a risk of controversy and perhaps even the dismantling of the program, yet offers a chance for reform and better development achievements. A routine of emic research could benefit SDP programs in uncovering these and other hidden phenomena.

Education for multiculturalism, founded on liberal-democratic values, is a frequent topic of educational discourse that has not been ignored by Muslim Arab schools in Israel. In general, Arab society is undergoing change processes, in transition from a traditional to a modern society; traditional values are challenged, engendering social crises. This paper discusses whether the multicultural approach can be successfully imparted in a society with preexisting structured values. It focuses on the school's role as a socialization agent that needs to adapt itself to a changing sociocultural reality, discussing the school's involvement in creating a value crisis, since it transmits the Islamic perception of the principles, foundations, and goals of education for multiculturalism. It is concluded that education for multiculturalism in Arab schools lacks internal logic, conflicts with and even undermines the Arab society's sociocultural values system, is inappropriate as a means to supervise the necessary change processes, and thus contributes to a values crisis.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on gender and social justice (SJ) among pioneer female principals and superintendents in the Arab education system in Israel. The research questions were: what motivated these women to act for SJ? Are there common personal characteristics and educational values which characterize these women? What actions have they taken to apply SJ through their work? Design/methodology/approach: Four superintendents and two principals participated in in-depth interviews, describing their careers in education and their contributions. Findings: The findings indicate that these women were highly motivated often by their backgrounds to right social wrongs upholding values of equality and justice and empowering others to succeed. They employed leadership skills that initiate a strong desire to succeed and challenged inegalitarian rules and norms. They brought their unique feminine strengths and experience to promote social goals far beyond requirements of their official job descriptions. Hopefully their views and actions can guide the Arab education system to pedagogy that rectifies social injustice includes students and empowers teachers. Originality/value: It is concluded that through their jobs these women leaders were able to initiate a policy of change and promote a new educational agenda.

This paper examines emotional expression experienced by female principals in the Arab school system in Israel over their managerial careers--role-related emotions that they choose to express or repress before others. I employed narrative methodology, interviewing nine female principals from the Arab school system to investigate expression of emotions in professional life stories that they narrated. Findings indicate that the principals' emotional expressions differ according to career stage; on induction into principalship, they are stressed, feel threatened, distressed and challenged. As they establish themselves in their role they are calmer, use more humour and more "correct" facial expressions. At a more advanced career stage, they express empathy and compassion, and concern for the maintenance of educational achievements. Understanding principals' emotional expression at different career stages contributes to the quality of principal-teacher relations in the school.

This paper discusses home education (homeschooling) in Israel. The first section reviews the legal situation, the scope and the current status of homeschooling in Israel. The second section presents data from qualitative research conducted in Israel, which shows, among other things, that homeschooling is perceived by those who practice it as a solution to several problems in different areas of life. This solution generates a total change in lifestyle, i.e. a paradigmatic change. This change is described primarily at two levels--on the one hand it is a process of heightened awareness and a willingness to take responsibility for different areas of life such as children's education, health, employment and self-fulfilment; and on the other hand it is also a trigger for taking a more flexible and easy-going approach to life. The third section discusses two attitudes towards homeschooling: (a) as a pedagogical move which emphasises parental involvement in their children's education (a common approach to homeschooling); and (b) as a holistic phenomenon that relates to changes in lifestyle of those who homeschool (as seen in the study presented here). The paper suggests that while these two attitudes can be researched separately, they are both important in order to gain a meaningful understanding of homeschooling.

Despite the growing consensus regarding the value of inquiry based teaching and learning, the implementation of such practices continues to be a challenge. The goal of this paper is to present a model for the educational infrastructure that can support the implementation of the Biomind program, which is a new open inquiry program for Israeli biology high school students. This model of the Biomind program implementation consists of four interactive domains, that is, Development, Operating, Supporting, and Control. Through the developmental domain, workshops were held where teachers developed the program as it was operating. Teachers' reflective discussions and the ongoing action research contributed to the development and improvement of the Biomind program. While introductory workshops served as a basis for the Operation domain, the advanced workshops and forums for veteran teachers, as well as conferences, were significant factors in supporting and controlling the program implementation. This article will describe how each aspect of the model supports the implementation of the Biomind program, emphasizing the assistance provided to teachers both in comprehending the essence of open inquiry and in coping with the difficulties of teaching open inquiry.

Introduction: This paper proposes a model of information behaviour of women during their lifelong struggle to maintain normal weight. Method: The model is integrative and contextual, built on existing models in information science and several other disciplines, and the life stories of about fifty Israeli women aged 25-55 and interviews with professionals. Analysis: The life stories of the participating women were analyzed qualitatively, major themes and phases were identified. Results: Weight loss and/or maintenance behaviour is a lifetime process in which distinctive stages were identified. In most cases the weight gain--weight loss--maintenance cycle is a recurring cycle. Information is a major resource during the process: several roles of information were defined: enabling, motivating, reinforcing, providing background information related to weight problems and creating the internal cognitive schema related to food and weight. Information behaviour and the roles of information vary with the different stages. Information needs are also influenced by the specific stage of the process. Information gathered at previous cycles is reused, and information gained through previous experience effects behaviour in the current cycle. Conclusion: Weight loss and/or maintenance behaviour is a lifetime process in which distinctive stages were identified. In most cases the weight gain--weight loss--maintenance cycle is a recurring cycle. Information is a major resource during the process. Several roles of information were defined: enabling, motivating, reinforcing, providing background information related to weight problems, and creating the internal cognitive schema related to food and weight. Information behaviour and the roles of information vary with the different stages. Information needs are also influenced by the specific stage of the process. Information gathered at previous cycles is reused, and information gained through previous experience effects behaviour in the current cycle.

In order to examine the implications of applying a teaching strategy that integrates a systems approach and project-based learning (PBL), it was implemented in two courses. The objective of the first course was to train preservice teachers to teach the subject of "Science and Technology to All" (mandatory subject in all of Israel's junior high schools), a mandatory methods course has been developed in the Department of Education in Technology and Science at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology: "Methods for Teaching Science and Technology for All". The course participants were pre-service teachers who were studying toward a teaching certificate in the Department of Education in Science and Technology parallel to their studies for a B.Sc. degree in one of the Technion's science Faculties. Most students in this course lack basic knowledge in engineering and technology. The second course was an introductory freshman course in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The goal of the second course was to achieve certain objectives through experiential learning. These were to provide students with a clear overview of the different fields in mechanical engineering; to introduce them to the essence of engineering work and the processes of design and development of new technological products; to raise their awareness of the importance and necessity of analysis for finding optimal solutions for engineering problems, and to acquaint freshmen with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and familiarize them with the different aspects of mechanical engineering expertise (Elata & Garaway, 2002). The innovation here is the integration of PBL and the systems approach, and the implementation of this combination in courses that up until today had been taught in traditional ways. This was an attempt to exploit this integrated approach to teach technology through a top-down process, without explaining the details to students lacking a technological background. This paper describes a qualitative study that followed the progress of the two classes. It presents what was learned during implementation of this approach in these two courses, as well as thoughts on future implications.

This paper explores the process of national identity development, and closely related themes among Palestinian student activists in the Israeli universities. Informed by the tradition of social identity theory, in-depth qualitative inquiry was conducted with an intensity sample of 35 Palestinian student activists attending the major five Israeli universities. Grounded theory analysis conducted on the open-ended interviews, document analysis and field observation revealed five dominant themes, which characterize Palestinian student activist. First, national identity was conceived as a cause of involvement in student activism, and as a psychological construct, which was reconstructed and developed through the experience of activism itself. Second, a sense of group relative deprivation in comparison with the dominant Jewish group was prevalent and closely related to the students' sense of national identity. Third, political party membership constitutes a mid-range identity linking the individual and the collective levels of identity. Fourth, women student activists advocated an intertwined feminist-nationalist agenda. Finally, psychosocial development and adjustment was revealed as an outcome of involvement in student activism. Findings reinforce the vital role of the student movement as a national socialization context in light of the continuing Israeli hegemonic practices over Palestinian formal education. (Contains 1 table.)

The purpose of this paper is to exemplify a "grass-roots" change based on Dewey's experimental progressive education model employed in the "Bridge over the Valley" bilingual school, a Palestinian-Arab and Jewish school in Israel. In order to identify the progressive "approach" underlying this change, the "method" that guided the implementation of a bilingual school, it's evaluation and then its dissemination to other schools, we used a qualitative case study method to understand whether John Dewey's theory of education for peace was able to effect change in Palestinian-Arab and Jewish school education in Israel. The case findings describes the use of the progressive approach of education for peace in the "Bridge over the Valley" bilingual school, as it is expressed in the school's pedagogy, the implementation of the progressive method and in the accompanying discourse. Reciprocal teacher-child relations are considered an important factor to create fertile conditions for learning. The case findings contribute to our introduction of democratic education in a spatial reality. Underlying this approach stood a pedagogical method and conceptualization for conflict resolution and the opening of a space for empowering dialog for co-existence.

Purpose: Turning an education reform program into school reality greatly depends on the principal. In certain cases, principals choose to implement reform instructions only partially. The purpose of this paper is to explore school principals' considerations leading to their decisions not to fulfill a national reform's guidelines in a full and complete way. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative study is based on interviews with 59 school principals. Generating themes was an inductive process, grounded in the various perspectives articulated by principals. Findings: Data analysis yielded three major considerations: adjusting to school reality; caring for teachers; and using discretion. Research limitations/implications: Longitudinal studies in order to explore how principals' considerations and mediation strategies evolve and unfold throughout the reform implementation would be useful. The authors suggest complementing principals' verbally expressed perceptions with more objective measures such as direct observations (recorded on video and then reflected upon), to evaluate their considerations and mediating strategies. Practical implications: Providing prospective and in-service principals with leadership education programs in order to develop an upgraded understanding of their role as mediating agents between the inner and outer spheres of school-life. Originality/value: As principals serve as mid-level policymakers who leave their "fingerprints" on policies received from the authorities, exploring these considerations may contribute to both the scholarship and the practice of the leadership role in times of education reforms.

A growing body of research has linked emotional intelligence (EI) to different life aspects, including personal well-being, quality of social relationships and professional effectiveness. In the field of education, EI has been linked to different aspects of school life, such as learning, academic achievements and pro-social behaviours among students and more recently, to effective teaching. The paper reports the qualitative findings of a comprehensive research project which followed a two-year emotional intelligence development programme, as part of teacher-targeted professional development training in one school in Israel. Data is based on 26 in-depth interviews with school teachers. The focus of the study was to explore what impacts an EI training programme might have upon the participants. The findings indicate that EI can be developed in teachers and that the EI training programmes may be effective in bringing about positive EI shifts and related behaviours which may positively impact upon teachers' practice, their sense of meaningfulness and their relations with students.

Purpose: In order to fill the gap in theoretical and empirical knowledge about the characteristics of principal workload, the purpose of this paper is to explore the components of principal workload as well as its determinants and the coping strategies commonly used by principals to face this personal state. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 principals, all from the elementary and secondary educational systems of Israel. The analysis followed the principles of qualitative research. Findings: Four subjectively held constructs of principal workload, main sources of this workload, and the key strategies used by principals to face this workload were found in this study. Practical implications: It is recommended to strengthen school autonomy, increase the number of positions of middle management, prepare future principals for the heavy workload, and encourage supportive superiors who are sensitive to this issue. Originality/value: This study fills the gap in theoretical knowledge concerning principal workload, assuming that the particular characteristics of the school organization have some unique impact on this personal state. It also enables us to identify the types of this personal state occurring in educational organizations from the subjective perspectives of school members and stakeholders, thereby broadening the understanding of employee workload in various settings, including educational arenas.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the disparity between the time adolescents devote to various leisure activities and the significance they attribute to them. The gap between amount and significance mirrors the way that adolescents in Israel perceive the concept of leisure and the content with which they fill it. Leisure is a phenomenon that is enforced on modern humanity. The results of this research show that in the context of leisure research it is paradoxically the capitalist aspect of personal gain that ultimately imbues significance, and transforms quantity into quality. The research shows that without adult guidance, young people tend not to seek out and engage in worthwhile leisure activities. Qualitative research shows that while leisure is context-dependent and culture-dependent, it is also contingent on adults who educate and guide young people to consume leisure effectively.

Purpose: Aspects of intellectual competence would not be sufficient for quality teaching that requires a mix of intellectual and personal qualities. The purpose of this paper was to elicit personal attributes of teachers' college applicants. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative case study consisted of 99 participants aged 20-24 years of average socio-economic and achievement backgrounds. The authors constructed five qualitative tools, in addition to the two existing standardized exams. Using techniques of the grounded theory, the authors sorted and synthesized the data through three-phase coding. Findings: The authors elicited a general concept map of attributes, from which a personal attribute profile for each participant emerged. This model makes fine differentiations between individuals, providing a personal attribute profile pool of applicants useful for any admission committee and for empowering students' strengths during studies. Research limitations/implications: A solid database of non-cognitive attributes opens the door to further research, which will take into consideration multiple variables, such as student knowledge, beliefs and aptitudes. Practical implications: Training teachers to apply research methodology into practice and limiting the length of tools make the mission possible, interesting and useful. Figuring out how to collect valid measures of such data about large numbers of college students would be a major challenge. Social implications: As teachers occupy a central position in the educational enterprise, they become guardians of the country's collective socio-cultural legacy. In the current context of teacher shortages, the authors offer a model that has the potential of improving recruitment of applicants for teaching and raising teacher quality. Originality/value: No previous attempt that uses qualitative methodology for this purpose was found.

Purpose: Many countries throughout the world provide all children with free education. However, sometimes there are user charges in publically funded schools worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to explore parental participation fees in school expenses in Israel, depicting the current situation and analyzing its implications. Design/Methodology/Approach: Public documents from Israel were explored, such as guidelines of the CEO of the Ministry of education, laws, court rulings, publications of the Central Bureau of Statistics, reports of State Comptroller and reports of various committees. Document analysis was a three-stage process--condensing, coding and categorizing. The analysis was based on interpretation of the documents collected, attempting to detect explicit and implicit meanings concerning the topic at hand. Findings: Findings show that the Israeli policy in regard to parental payments has three main characteristics: first, high basic payments; second, payments for learning activities; and third, insufficient enforcement. Practical Implications: According to the findings of this study, it would be advisable to re-examine the Israeli policy in regard to school charges that parents are required to pay. Originality/Value: There is not much research to be found on the subject of parental participation fees in school expenses. The findings of this study expand the limited knowledge existing on this topic.

The paper presents the story of an experimental learning studio in a teacher education programme at a college in Israel. The study investigates what students found significant in the studio and more specifically, the meanings students attributed to the experiences in the studio and how it constituted a site for learning. Open ended questionnaires distributed to 171 students were used and analysed qualitatively. The analysis indicates that the studio provided students with opportunities to see elements of "a lesson" from creative ways of looking at teaching and learning. Students revealed capabilities of making inferences and implications to wider phenomena based on theoretical and practical knowledge. Thus transgressing boundaries of segregated disciplines can lead to meaningful learning and more motivated students.

Purpose: Regulation and privatization of education systems has led to a "league standing" mentality regarding school achievements. The purpose of this paper is to examine how school principals deal with the pressures of competition and achievements while aspiring to imbue pupils with values and a broad education. Design/Methodology/Approach: In total, 12 high school principals were interviewed about external demands imposed on them, their educational policy and modes of operation. Findings: Publicly, school supervisors advocate a balance between core studies and education for values and enrichment. Informally they pressure principals to allocate maximal resources to prepare for high risk tests at the expense of other educational activities. School administrators and teachers, while dissatisfied with this approach, maintain a covert informal culture that concentrates mainly on external test achievements, which contrasts to their public value-rich educational vision, and undertake actions that raise educational, management and ethical questions. Research Limitations/Implications: Understanding school culture requires a grasp of informal external pressures on school staffs and their influence on the gap between a school's declared and actual policies. Practical Implications: Placing the schools' informal culture on the research agenda will increase institutional transparency and may contribute to a greater correspondence between school visions advocating knowledge and values, and the policy actually implemented. Social Implications: Public discussion of the anticipated contribution of educational institutions to improved quality of life in an age of cultural, social and technological change should be conducted from an awareness of the difference between formal educational policy and the informal policy that is prevalent in many of these institutions. Originality/Value: Raising this subject for discussion may contribute to a demand for more transparency in how schools allocate their resources. It may also help to increase the correspondence between the values and vision promulgated by schools and the educational policy they actually implement.

This paper describes an attempt to identify factors influencing teachers' motivation in the Arab education system. In-depth interviews with 10 school principals, 15 teachers and 3 counsellors, yielded three themes influencing Arab teachers' motivation: (1) Arab culture, (2) the school climate and (3) government policies. Arab teachers try to meet both government requirements and the minority Arab society's expectations that they will shape students' academic achievements, national identity and culture. Deficient resources and Arab principals' detached management styles augment the difficulty, negatively influencing teachers' motivation. Suggestions are given to improve government policies and Arab principals' work and thus to enhance teachers' motivation.

Several researches in physics education have demonstrated the problematic status of teaching the subject of gravitation and weight and students' knowledge of these concepts. This paper presents findings of a study of students' knowledge following instruction within a changed conceptual framework of the weight concept in several 9th grade classes (N = 141). The experimental instruction addressed a representative set of physical situations designed to facilitate students' construction of adequate knowledge regarding weight and gravitational force. We checked the ability of middle school students to distinguish between these two concepts and the effectiveness of the operational definition of weight in helping students to account for novel physical situations. A written open-format qualitative questionnaire was used in the assessment that analyzed the data by means of quantitative (statistical) and qualitative (scheme-facets) tools. The same questionnaire was applied to 91 high school students exposed to the advanced placement level of teaching of the subject of gravitation and weight in Israeli schools. The results indicated an advantage of the experimental teaching with regard to students' pertinent conceptual knowledge.

Apprenticeship and professional development schools (PDSs) are two models for teacher education. The mentors that are the focus for this research completed their initial teacher training through one of these models and now mentor in PDSs. The paper reports on how the way in which they were trained as student teachers influenced their role perceptions. The findings suggest that mentor teachers who were trained via the PDSs model have a broader conceptual understanding of their role perception.

Many educational systems worldwide are making substantial efforts to integrate an international dimension into local schools, fostering significant changes in the processes of instruction and learning as well as transformations at pedagogical and organisational levels. In this paper, we analyse data collected in four schools in Israel that the local press and educational authorities have acknowledged as schools that prominently and comprehensively incorporated international, global and intercultural dimensions. We employ a case-study approach based on interviews with principals and teachers; analysis of schools' websites and documents; and on-site observations, in order to analyse the expression of internationalisation, understand who is involved in the implementation process, and stimulate thinking about the broader impact of this process. We find that ideological and pragmatic reasons underlie schools' motivations to internationalise; their population and status comprise major factors in the decision regarding how, where, why, and when to integrate international and intercultural dimensions. The stakeholders interviewed perceive of internationalisation as offering both cosmopolitan capital to the students and a distinctive feature to the school. The schools demonstrate diverse internationalisation patterns that are neither monitored nor guided by any regulatory agency. These findings contribute to the identification of the factors promoting or delaying the internalisation process and to the understanding of the impact of this process on schools.

This paper addresses the interaction of three equivalent issues: education, cultural trauma and the Internet. Theory suggests that the educational system plays an important role in the transmission and maintenance of the memory of a group's defining cultural trauma. However little is empirically known of the ways education influences the attitudes of younger members of a collective who struggle with the memory of the trauma. This study investigated the willingness of Jewish-Israeli high school students who relate to this trauma only through the educational system to engage in online commemoration of the trauma. Findings indicate a complex picture of how high school educational socialization is related to online commemoration of the group's cultural trauma, and suggest several future lines of research.

The past 15 years have been a dramatic and unique period for education systems all over the world. The challenges have become more complex and the need for schools to promote their agenda has become cardinal and, in some cases, even critical. Today, parents, children, pupils and teachers are motivated by their senses and the positioning of leading brands in the market, including the educational market. As this is the reality, schools need to change their approach and develop a sense of marketing and branding in their DNA if they wish to survive this chaotic period (universities and colleges have engaged in marketing for years). This article will present a new approach for marketing schools and offer a strategic plan that every school can adopt and implement. Warner (2009) emphasizes that a strategic plan is the essential first step for the success of any school. It is time for schools to realize that they need to differentiate themselves and try to position their uniqueness (and if they do not have such a uniqueness, it's time to create it) in the system if they seek to lead and survive this "crazy" time. A series of interviews and data from open questionnaires was collected in Israel from principals and teachers and a qualitative analysis was conducted to define their views in relation to marketing schools. The main message in this paper is that schools are afraid of marketing, yet they need a marketing plan (Foster, 2011). Marketing is an essential part of a school district's communication plan, as it is in any successful business. If it is not, schools may find themselves out of business. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

This article introduces a pedagogical tool for raising critical consciousness and nurturing resistance to discrimination. "Autoethnographic mapping," integrating guided cognitive mapping and autoethnographies, has been implemented for a decade now within the framework of a college course occasioning dialogue between Palestinian Arab and Jewish students in Israel. Participants using the tool in an extended encounter between students from groups embroiled in political conflict have begun to theorize the microgeographies and stories of their everyday existence, gaining nuanced, non-standard insights into how conflict informs lives and selves. Employing the technique in the contact zone of guided encounters, students tend to re-inscribe identities upon a socio-political context, discovering the fluidity of belonging and destabilizing discursive structures. The paper outlines the course, sketches the tool and its theoretical underpinnings and describes some of the results it's achieved through a spectrum of illustrative instances.