This article explores changes in children's openness towards kindergarten teachers and children of an outgroup following participation in an intervention program. The program was implemented by kindergarten teachers and aimed at encountering the other via intergroup contact. The findings are based on qualitative data from interviews with the…

The two studies presented here examine the effects of teachers' enhanced sense of meaning at work (SOM) on their burnout and engagement. In the first study, 41 teachers in two Arab schools were randomly assigned to a meaning-induction group--in which they were prompted daily to acknowledge meaningful incidents at work for 2 weeks or to a control…

This is a qualitative study that examines Jewish and Bedouin preservice teachers' (n = 76) meaningful experiences in a project-based learning framework, in which they participated as part of their pedagogical coursework. The main goal of the study is to gain insight into participants' meaningful experiences, i.e. thoughts, feelings, and emotions…

The research investigated whether there is a correlation between participation in a course entitled "Diversity and multiculturalism in the global era" as perceived by Jewish and Arab students in Israel and a change in the students' attitudes and behaviors and their performance of activities in a multicultural context in the education…

This article examines the impact of contact-based educational encounter strategies of shared learning on Jewish-Arab relations in Israel. It analyses a programme of education for shared life that takes place in a mixed (75% Jewish/25% Arab) city at the centre of Israel since 2012. The programme aims to mitigate Jewish-Arab relations in the city…

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…

In this manuscript, I interrogate the concept of "quality" encounter programs for youth in conflict zones. I focus on two Israeli organizations implementing encounters for Jewish and Palestinian citizens, and draw upon narratives of former participants as articulated during life history narratives to illustrate divergent emphases in each…

This study evaluated the efficacy of a newly developed Arab-Jewish Class Exchange Program (CEP) in reducing stereotyping and prejudicial attitudes between Israeli-Jewish and Israeli-Palestinian children. The CEP builds on the core principles of contact theory and is designed to help participants cultivate empathy and tolerance toward the other.…

Background/Context: Critical education studies tries to make sense of the relationship between education and differential power in an unequal society and to what degree schools impact the social order. A premise in this field is that a fundamental aim of critical education is exposing unequal social, cultural, and economic power relations and…

During the 2009-2010 academic year, 10 schools participated in the Meaning of Life educational program, an adaption of the popular U.S. Laws of Life program. The program sought to encourage each participant to develop a personal approach to finding meaning in life. To evaluate the success of the program, we conducted a study to compare measures of…

The present paper deals with Jewish and Palestinian teachers who work in an integrated school in Israel, and shows the challenges and possibilities from examining these teachers' powerful historical narratives in the context of in-service training sessions. It is shown how these teachers essentially remain firmly rooted in the hegemonic historical…

Peace education programmes have become part of the school curriculum all over the world, as a way to enhance positive relationships between conflict groups. However, although gender differences are being taken into account when planning various educational programmes, this is usually not the case with peace education. The present study aimed to…

Background: Great efforts are made to develop and implement contact activities for groups in conflict, yet studies of effects of planned contact interventions yielded mixed results. Previous attempts to explain why contact interventions do not fulfill their promise focused on the contact itself. However, the main focus of the present study was the…

The "Children Teach Children" (CTC) program aimed to educate Jewish and Arab children in Israel for tolerance and coexistence is first described against the general background of coexistence programs in Israel and in other countries. Results of a study that examined the influence of the program implementation in Grade 7 in a pair of…

Based on an evaluation of an Israeli project developed to promote and foster Arab-Jewish co-existence, this study illustrates some of the educational problems that can arise as a result of ideological commitment. The programme was designed to emphasize the commonalities and the similarities between the two nationalities. The evaluation revealed…