Walking between the raindrops: the role of religion in globalised schooling

ABSTRACT

This study applies the notion of ‘alternative futures’ in globalisation and education by focusing specifically on the intersection between religion and education. Through an in-depth exploration utilising a case-study approach, we delve into the organisational dynamics of an Israeli school catering to a closed-off, traditional Jewish religious community while also proactively embedding specific forms of internationalisation. We identify and analyse the conflicting rationales and agenda maintained by this school based on interviews with the school’s community, including teachers, superintendents, school leadership, and parents. We argue that the ideas of segregation, religionalisation, and nationalism are nurtured through the hybridity of the networks of influence, custom-tailored by the school’s leadership to serve this unique community. In particular, we analyse the school’s distinctive practices, norms, and routines designed to overcome the gap between the seemingly contradictory values of universalism vs particularity; globalisation vs nationalism; segregation vs unity; and religion vs modernity, and the ways that these dynamics play out in a country struggling for (self)-recognition as a Jewish and Democratic State, while being situated in an intractable internal and external conflict.

KEYWORDS:

• Internationalisation
• Israel
• nationalism
• religion
• schooling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Rawolle (2010) identifies ‘processes in which intermediaries (such as journalists, noble families or political parties) … shape power relations between people within different fields’ (p. 20). Thus ‘mediatisation can be conceptualised as a set of identifiable practices, the effects of which impact on the practices of people in other fields in systematic ways’ (p. 22).

2 A pseudonym.

3 One limitation of this study is the absence of students’ voice as major stakeholders in the school. Students were not included in the study due to the school’s ethics regulations concerning external research.

4 We conceptualise ‘thoughtful segregation’ as a set of practices that delineate time/space boundaries, allowing specific contradicting values to co-exist in the education space.