TY - JOUR
T1 - The non-political classroom
T2 - The (dis)missed opportunities of an Israeli multicultural-bilingual high school civics course
AU - Cohen, Aviv
AU - Bekerman, Zvi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - The body of research on civic education points to the importance of teachers creating open democratic environments, leading to what has been termed the political classroom. This yearlong study of an Israeli multicultural and bilingual high school civics course, in which students from different citizenship status participated, presents a case in which teachers were unsuccessful in achieving this goal, raising the question of what limited this class's potential to create an educational environment where democratic discourses could have taken place? The main argument points to Israel's current disputative political environment that led to the enactment of four educational mechanisms that resulted in such a futile reality. These included: conflicting objectives, avoiding discussion of controversial issues, implementing traditional teaching practices, and overlooking language issues. The neo-liberal educational environment and a culture of fear and self-censorship were both identified as a common explanation to these, leading to an educational reality in which there was a detach between the lessons and the students' transcultural lived political experiences. From a methodological perspective, the study illuminates the importance of focusing on such unsuccessful cases, examining their elements, and understanding what influences them.
AB - The body of research on civic education points to the importance of teachers creating open democratic environments, leading to what has been termed the political classroom. This yearlong study of an Israeli multicultural and bilingual high school civics course, in which students from different citizenship status participated, presents a case in which teachers were unsuccessful in achieving this goal, raising the question of what limited this class's potential to create an educational environment where democratic discourses could have taken place? The main argument points to Israel's current disputative political environment that led to the enactment of four educational mechanisms that resulted in such a futile reality. These included: conflicting objectives, avoiding discussion of controversial issues, implementing traditional teaching practices, and overlooking language issues. The neo-liberal educational environment and a culture of fear and self-censorship were both identified as a common explanation to these, leading to an educational reality in which there was a detach between the lessons and the students' transcultural lived political experiences. From a methodological perspective, the study illuminates the importance of focusing on such unsuccessful cases, examining their elements, and understanding what influences them.
KW - Bilingual education
KW - Civics
KW - Classroom environment
KW - Israel
KW - Multicultural education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107966362&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jssr.2021.06.001
DO - 10.1016/j.jssr.2021.06.001
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AN - SCOPUS:85107966362
SN - 0885-985X
VL - 46
SP - 111
EP - 122
JO - Journal of Social Studies Research
JF - Journal of Social Studies Research
IS - 2
ER -