The ‘right’ education in Israel: segregation, religious ethnonationalism, and depoliticized professionalism

ABSTRACT

This paper underlines three foundations upon which the current condition of the Israeli education system is predicated. These are: (a) the separation between Palestinians and Jews in the Israeli education system and isolating both from any significant contact; (b) endorsing a strong ethno-religious ethos and narratives that widen the chasm between the Jewish ‘us’ and the Palestinian ‘them’; and (c) shaping education for the Palestinians in Israel as a highly standardized and de-contextualized endeavor that excludes ideology and politics, which are seen as irrelevant to good professionalism, while substantiating and thickening the ideological education in the Jewish education system in line with the right political agenda . In doing so, this paper contextualizes these foundations in the recent developments of Israeli politics. Particularly, the paper associates these foundations with the rise of the extreme right politics in Israel, arguing that these, taken together, serve the state’s efforts to continue preserving its excluding ethnocentric political regime and controlling the Arab Palestinian education in Israel under conditions of subordination and inequality.

KEYWORDS:

• Education policy and politics
• Arab education in Israel
• Palestinian-Israeli conflict
• Jewish education
• neo-liberalism

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

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Ayman K. Agbaria

Dr. Ayman K. Agbaria ([email protected]) studies education policy and politics in minority education contexts, with special attention to Muslim education. He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Leadership and Policy in Education at the University of Haifa. He also serves a faculty member of the Mandel Leadership Institute. He is the editor of two books: Teacher Education in the Palestinian Society in Israel − Institutional Practices and Educational Policy (Resling) and Commitment, Character, and Citizenship: Religious Schooling in Liberal Democracy (with Hanan A. Alexander, Routledge).