1 A Glimpse into a Mixed Ethnic Elementary School in Jaffa, Israel Dr. Tamar Margalit Center of Critical Pedagogy, Kibbutzim College of Education April, 2008

2 Outline: Arab and Jewish Segregation in Schools Jaffa and the Neighborhood The Weitzman School Dilemmas at the School  Trend for Change Critical Pedagogy  Projects at the School Conclusions

3 Arab and Jewish Segregation in Schools (*) Even in mixed-populated cities, the schools are segregated. Educational Segregation Residential SegregationSocial Segregation InequalityPreconceived Attitudes

4 Arab and Jewish Segregation in Schools 20% of Israeli citizens are Arab citizens Segregated educational systems Jewish-Arab conflict Inequality Budgets Gaps in scholastic achievements Preconceived attitudes, fear and animosity

5 Jaffa A part of Tel Aviv metropolis –Tel Aviv-Jaffa population: 371,400 –Jaffa population: 45,000 Jews and Arabs (Muslims and Christians) –Jews: 30,000; Arabs: 15,000 (third are Christians) Low socio-economic status Historical significance (an ancient port city) Gentrification

6 Weitzman School Israeli - Jewish “state school”. 316 children (Pre-school – 6 th grade). 50:50 Arab to Jewish children ratio. Arab include Christians and Muslims. Marginalized community.

7 Dilemmas at School Language Religious holidays Culture and heritage Israeli-Palestinian conflict Identity Equality Violence Low scholastic achievements

8 Find the Differences - Signs on the Schools’ Main Buildings Weitzman SchoolLev-Jaffa (Arab) School Hebrew only Hebrew, Arabic, English

9 Trend for Change An Experimental Plan: “Together and Alone” PreviousChange Language HebrewHebrew and Arabic Culture and Heritage JewishJewish, Muslim Christian Teachers JewJew and Arab teachers together

10 Critical Pedagogy: Principles and Implementation FromTo Frontal teachingCooperative learning, Empowerment Passive learning, “Banking” education Dialogue, relevance, Problem posing Hidden messages in textbooks Questions of Social Justice and Peace Education, Problematization

11 A militaristic example from a textbook (5 th grade, arithmetic fractions): In a family there are 4 children: Neta is a soldier and Ival, Anat and Yuval are pupils. The parents prepared a cake for the soldier’s vacation, and gave the children instructions: “Divide the cake between all of you, so that the pupils will get equal pieces, and the soldier’s piece will be bigger than the others.” Suggest how to divide the cake. Decide and write down how much of the cake each child will get.

12 Projects at School by Student Teachers from the Center of Critical Pedagogy Principles:  Arab and Jewish student teachers work together  Multi-aged groups  Children select their projects

13 Projects at School The Projects:  Bilingual School magazine  School Design  “I am from Jaffa”  Children’s Rights

14 Friendships (From the Weitzman school magazine) Achmed: “There is one boy in the class, his name is Eliraz. He and I are almost like brothers.” Cristin: “My two friends, Lina and Cristina, and I belong to different religions. Despite this, our friendship is wonderful. I believe that if you want to feel belonging, religious issues don’t matter, what you really feel is in your heart.”

15 Thank You “ We are all children of life ” Translation from a painting by children from Weitzman School, Jaffa, 2008