Our point of departure in this paper is the observation that in many secular societies--which may be so in variable degrees, especially in the West--as well as in societies emerging out of religious conflict, there may be the perception that educational systems ought to promote civic values while sidestepping religious or cultural values. This…

The helping professions in general and social work in particular pose particular challenges and opportunities for national minority group members. This article adds to the present knowledge in the literature concerning the interaction between career choice in the welfare professions and minority status, by looking at the voices of Palestinian…

Advocates of integration and cross cultural contact believe schools have a seminal role to play in perpetuating or breaking the cycle of violence and division in conflicted societies. Historically, segregated schools are the norm in such societies. An alternative educational model is provided through integrated schools--schools where children from…

The goal of this study is to gain a better understanding of the experiences of Palestinian-Israeli minority teachers when teaching at majority state Hebrew secular schools in Israel. Specifically, the objective is to describe and analyze the role of the teachers' work-related experiences in shaping their sense of self-efficacy, job satisfaction,…

The present paper deals with epistemological and methodological issues as these touch upon the products of educational practices related to the teaching of historical narratives in settings purposely created to facilitate dialogue, inclusion and recognition among children thought to be belonging in clearly differentiated and antagonistic groups in…

The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a study on the way that two sample group of teachers, one in Israel and one in Cyprus, perceive forgiveness. The study is grounded in moral-philosophical ideas about forgiveness and the data is collected via interviews and focus groups. The findings show that participants in both samples…

In troubled societies narratives about the past tend to be partial and explain a conflict from narrow perspectives that justify the national self and condemn, exclude and devalue the 'enemy' and their narrative. Through a detailed analysis, Teaching Contested Narratives reveals the works of identity, historical narratives and memory as these are…

This article takes on the issue of "integrated education" in conflicted societies and engages in a deeper analysis of its dominant theoretical concepts, approaches, and implications. This analysis suggests that the theoretical language that drives current approaches of integrated education may unintentionally be complicit to the project…

This article presents an in-depth analysis of two commemoration events in a first-grade classroom of a bilingual school in Israel. The two events presented--the commemorations of the Holocaust Day and the Memorial Day--derive from a longitudinal ethnographic study of integrated bilingual schools in Israel. The analysis of these events shows…

During the past decade, the authors have conducted research in their own countries, all of which are considered conflict or postconflict societies: Israel, Cyprus, and Northern Ireland. They have focused on a variety of topics related to peace education, reconciliation, and coexistence. Giving special emphasis to the formation of identity in…

This paper addresses the complexities encountered by teachers and students when dealing with conflictual historical narratives in the context of integrated bilingual schools in Israel. The narratives presented are based on rich ethnographic data gathered from a long-standing research effort in the schools. They offer insights into how those…

Recognition is the main word attached to multicultural perspectives. The multicultural call for recognition, the one calling for the recognition of cultural minorities and identities, the one now voiced by liberal states all over and also in Israel was a more difficult one. It took the author some time to realize that calling for the recognition…

This paper shows some mechanisms as well as the paralysing implications of the perpetrator-victim positioning in the context of inservice education with Jewish- and Palestinian-Israeli teachers who teach in Palestinian-Jewish integrated schools. It examines how these teachers remain rooted in the hegemonic historical narratives of their own…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers of the integrated bilingual Palestinian-Jewish schools in Israel construct their school culture in relation to various outside pressures in their attempt to achieve educational change. Field notes from an in-service training workshop were analyzed according to three levels of the teaching…

Lyotard (1988) argued that the major problem of this time may be understood in terms of two issues: the impossibility of avoiding conflicts and the absence of a universal genre of discourse to regulate them. In this article, the authors closely follows Lyotard's ideas to problematize claims about the university of justice. Then, the authors…