The kindergarten in the religious kibbutz – The intersection between religious education and kibbutz education

ABSTRACT

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 self-identity. The identity of the RK kindergarten was designed to be an encounter between four axes: the connection to Jewish tradition, the kibbutz community, nature and agriculture, and a constructivist approach. The study findings brought to light the RK kindergarten teachers’ unique educational approach, which includes both similarities and differences with the general kibbutz movement kindergartens and the state religious kindergartens. The study contributes to highlighting a specific group of early childhood (EC) educators, reflecting both the diverse mosaic of EC educational approaches among different groups in Israel and the potential that these groups have for enriching each other.

KEYWORDS:

• Israeli kindergartens
• religious kibbutz
• religious Zionist movement
• state religious education
• Jewish tradition
• Kibbutz EC pedagogical approach

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of the kindergarten teachers who took part in this study.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 We will relate in this article only tangentially to the differences that emerged in the study between kindergarten teachers in the three settlement blocs.

2 Temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Sukkot festival.

3 Trumpet made of ram's horn blown on the Jewish High Holydays.

4 The citron fruit used by Jews during the Sukkot festival as one of the 'Four Species' used on the holiday.

5 Sweet condiment of fruit and nuts served at the Passover seder symbolizing the mortar used by the enslaved Israelites to build cities for Pharaoh.

6 Mishloach manot are the gifts of food exchanged within the community on the holiday of Purim.

7 Ornamental cabinet in the synagogue housing the Torah scrolls.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shulamit Hoshen Manzura

Shulamit Hoshen Manzura teaches in Oranim Academic College in the early childhood education (ECE) undergraduate and graduate departments and in Efrata Academic College in the early childhood education (ECE) B.Ed. programme. Her courses deal with a variety of topics, for example: philosophy of education, children's literature and development of children's drawings. Her studies deal with gender in Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox societies and with the perspectives of Israeli ECE children on rituals and gender in secular, Orthodox, and ultra-Orthodox societies. She wrote training materials for ECE in the fields of Judaism and Bible.

Selected publications: (2016). How to bridge the gap? Teacher educators’ approaches to the teaching of the biblical ‘Other’ in kindergarten. Journal of Jewish Education, 82 (3), 231–257; (2014). Licking honey – between reality and imagination: Children's discourse in the ultra-orthodox world. Zafrabooks; (2009). The issue of gender segregation as an expression of the distance between ‘Binyan Shalem’ and ‘Kolech’. To Be a Jewish Women. In T. Cohen (Ed.) Kolech: Religious Women's Forum. (pp. 272–259); (2007). The kindergarten as a social mirror: the ‘glass ceiling’ in the religious kindergarten. To Be a Jewish Women. In T. Cohen (Ed.) Kolech: Religious Women's Forum. (pp. 207–217).

Sigal Achituv

Dr. Sigal Achituv is the director of the Early Childhood Education Graduate Program in Oranim Academic College. She is a graduate of the first post-doctoral programme at the MOFET Institute and teaches in Oranim Academic College in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) B.Ed and M.Ed. programmes. Her courses deal with a variety of topics related to Israeli ECE, for example: Israel's Educational Policy in ECE. Her studies deal with Israeli ECE educators’ identity concerning changes taking place in ECE in Israel and around the world.

Selected publications: (2022). Which of the Bible stories do you best remember? The significance of selected Bible stories for early childhood education students, British Journal of Religious Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2022.2061423; (2020). ‘Sowing the seeds of community’: Daycare managers participating in a community approach project. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. 48(6), 1080-1099; (2020). Partners or managers? Mothers or bosses? Conflicting identities of Israeli daycare managers. Early Child Development and Care 190(12), 1931-1944; It bothers me, but I won't bring it into the kindergarten: Gender perception conflicts of religious kindergarten teachers as reflected in their work. Religious Education, 114(4), 457–469.