The current study delves into the professional identity of elementary school rabbis within the national-religious education system in Israel, focusing on the perspectives of the rabbis themselves and examining how their professional identity impacts their work. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 rabbis who were selected using a convenience…

Education policies are typically anchored in official texts that provide a foundation for their enactment in schools. What are the implications of an "invisible" policy not anchored in any official text due to political motives? This study explores the enactment of an invisible education policy that regulates religious enclave schools.…

The kindergarten teachers of the Religious Kibbutz movement (RK) as a unique group are connected both to the educational approaches of the kindergartens in the general Kibbutz Movement and the state religious kindergartens. A qualitative study included semi-structured interviews with 15 RK kindergarten teachers in order to explore their…

The study's aim was to identify the entrepreneurial process ten Jewish immigrant religious educators utilized when establishing innovative educational institutions, thereby affecting the Israeli religious education system. We utilized a social innovation approach to education entrepreneurship applying a qualitative analysis of life story…

Despite the popularity of distributed leadership theory, the investigation of the micro-political aspects of such models have scarcely been explored, and insights on the cultural variety of distributed practices in schools are limited. The present study aimed to explore what micro-political aspects emerge in participative decision making in…

The Israeli state-religious-education system (SRES) held an unfavorable view of Mizrahi religiosity in the 1980s. Text analyses of religious-education heads' writings indicate that they saw Mizrahi religiosity as a primitive relic of the past and as a "low-level religiosity" and regarded Mizrahi students as uncommitted and compromising.…

The vast majority of Haredi schools for boys in Israel focus almost exclusively on religious studies. This study explores Haredi (Jewish ultra-Orthodox) activism aimed at promoting secular education in these schools. Data collection drew on semi-structured interviews with 20 Haredi activists. The findings compared two patterns of Haredi…

This study examines students' perceptions of teacher authority in WhatsApp groups compared to the traditional classroom setting, with a focus on female students attending religious high schools. The strict authority structures inherent in these settings provide a unique context for the research. Most students reported finding it easier to…

Using resistance to digital technologies in religious nationalist public high schools in Israel as a frame for discussing minimal computing, this paper explores how socio-religious ideologies foster minimal technological practices. Based on interviews with administrators, homeroom teachers, and religious and secular content teachers from three…

Purpose: The global COVID-19 crisis posed many managerial and leadership challenges for principals. More specifically, after the crisis passed noticeable changes in school climate manifested and affected principal management style. The present study examined perceptions of principals regarding school climate and its impact on management style. The…

The purpose of this article is to compare teachers' and students' interpretations of citizenship education (CE) across different communities in conflict-affected societies. By drawing on qualitative research that was conducted in four different schools in Northern Ireland and Israel (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish-Israeli and Arab-Palestinian), we…

The purpose of the current study was to explore the meanings, regulation, and sources of male teacher empathy in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools in Israel from a cultural perspective. More specifically, the study posed three questions: (1) What are the particular meanings attached to empathy by ultra-Orthodox teachers? (2) How do ultra-Orthodox…

This paper is an exploration of the pedagogic challenges experienced in teaching emerging Jewish educational leaders about how to lead with a diversity mindset and create inclusive spaces for teaching and learning. Employing elements of self-study and phenomenology, we identify felt difficulties, examining how those were evident in our planning…

Drawing upon trait-activation-theory, this study explores the moderating role of resource support in the relationship of middle-leaders' personality traits, namely extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to collective teacher efficacy. The study used a two-source survey design with data from 609 participants: middle-leaders and teachers in…

Children's literature is considered a channel for providing socioemotional skills. This study examined the way social-emotional learning (SEL) is reflected in the Hebrew and Arabic children's literature in Israel, based on a content and semiotic analysis of 50 works included in the state program "March of Books", for Jewish schools, and…