Abstract
The present study aims to examine the impact of encounter between two different ethnic groups, Jews and Arabs, of Israeli first-year graduate students who study in four colleges of education, on the development of their intercultural competence: (1) knowledge regarding the “other,” (2) change in attitudes and behavior towards the other, and (3) multicultural educational practice. The findings point to two clear factors affecting the development of intercultural competence: the formal and informal college experience as reported by respondents, particularly the contents and tools that both Jews and Arabs acquired at the college in addition to personal characteristics and off-campus encounters. The second factor is the difference between the experiences of Jewish and Arab students: while Arab students are more knowledgeable regarding the Jewish culture and are more willing to change attitudes and educational practices in light of multiculturalism, Jewish students are less prone to make such changes. Thus, according to our findings, intercultural encounters among educators during their graduate studies could create a unique opportunity to turn the college experience transformational in terms of intercultural competence, particularly in the segregated structure of Israeli society.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The Zionist movement is the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel (Jewish Virtual Library, 2016). As a revolutionist movement it aims to educate the youth to become the “new Jew” who live in Israel as a new nation, culture, and society (Pasternak, 2003).
This project aims to prepare youth (aged 11–14) from the Jewish and Arab sectors to live a multi cultured tolerant and democratic society, and will reinforce their willingness to meet any “other”: Jewish, Arab, Muslim or Christian (TALI website 2016).
References
Al-Haj, M. (2003). Education within conflict: cultural hegemony versus controlled multiculturalism. In M. Al-Haj & U. Ben-Eliezer U. (Eds.), In the name of security: the sociology of war in Israel in changing times (pp. 295–327). Haifa, Israel: University of Haifa Press and Pardes (Hebrew).
Ayalon, H., & Yogev, A. (2006). Stratification and diversity in the expanded system of higher education in Israel. Higher Education Policy, 19(2), 187–203.
Banks, C. A. & McGee Banks, C. A. (Eds.), (2001). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Bekerman, Z. (2007). Rethinking intergroup encounters: rescuing praxis from theory, activity from education, and peace/co-existence from identity and culture. J Peace Educ, 4(1), 29–41.
Ben-Rafael, E., & Peres, Y. (2005). Is Israel one? Nationalism, religion and multiculturalism confounded. Leiden: Brill.
Bok, D. (2006). Our underachieving colleges: a candid look at how much students learn and why they should be learning more. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Brewer, M. B. (1996). When contact is not enough: social identity and intergroup cooperation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 20, 291–303.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Davidovitch, N., Soen, D., & Kolan, M. (2006). A discourse of diversity: student profiles and relationships of Arab and Jewish students on
Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of Studies in Intercultural Education, 10(3), 241–166.
Deardorff, D. K. (2009). Preface. In D. K. Deardorff (Ed.), Intercultural competence (pp. xi-xiv). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Dignes, N. G., & Baldwin, K. D. (1996). Intercultural competence: a research perspective. In D. Landis & R. S. Bhaghat (Eds.), Handbook of intercultural training (pp. 106–123). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Nachmias, D. (2008). Research methods in the social sciences. New York, NY: Worth.
Hertz-Lazarowitz, R., Yosef-Meitav, M., Farah, A., & Zoabi, N. (2010). Arab and Jewish students at the University of Haifa: identity maps drawings within the complex Israeli political context. Studies in Education , 3 , 126–155 (Hebrew).
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. (2016). Announcement to the Press 2016. Jerusalem: Central Bureau of Statistics (Hebrew).http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/newhodaot/hodaa_template.html?hodaa=201611134. Accessed 8 November 2016.
Jewish Virtual Library (2016). http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/zionism.html. Accessed 3 August 2016.
Kastoryano, R. (2010). Codes of otherness. Soc Res, 77(1), 79–100.
Kofman, I, Kabba, M., Osazki-Lazar, S. & Boimel, Y. (Eds.) (2014). Arab society in Israel: from majority to national minority. Ranana, Israel: The Open University of Israel (Hebrew).
Krumer-Nevo, M., & Sidi, M. (2012). Writing against othering. Qual Inq, 18(4), 299–304.
Leask, B., & Carroll, J. (2011). Moving beyond ‘wishing and hoping’: internationalization and student experiences of inclusion and engagement. Higher Education Research & Development, 30(5).
Lev Ari, L., & Laron, D. (2014). Intercultural learning in graduate studies at an Israeli college of education: attitudes toward multiculturalism among Jewish and Arab students. High Educ, 68(2), 243–262.
Maoz, I. (2000). Power relations in intergroup encounters: a case study of Jewish-Arab encounters in Israel. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 24, 259–277.
Macionis, J. J. (1997). Sociology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Mula, W. (2013). Arab Jewish encounters: a question of asymmetry or of good intents. Dvarim, 6, 335–340 (Hebrew).
Otten, M. (2003). Intercultural learning and diversity in higher education. J Stud Int Educ, 7(1), 12–26.
Pasternak, R. (2003). Education in Israeli society. In E. Ya’ar and Z. Shavit (Eds.), Trends in Israeli society (p. 904). Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv: The Open University of Israel (Hebrew).
Peri, P. (2007). Introduction to education in multicultural society: pluralism and congruence among cultural divisions. In P. Peri (Ed.), Education in multicultural society: Pluralism and congruence among cultural divisions (pp. 9–26). Jerusalem: Carmel (Hebrew).
Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2000). Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Recent meta-analytic findings. In S. Oskamp (Ed.), Reducing prejudice and discrimination: social psychological perspectives (pp. 93–114). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Raichel, N. (2008). Story of the Israeli education system: between centralism and distribution, clarity and ambiguity, replication and ingenuity. Tel Aviv: Mofet, Jerusalem: Magnes (Hebrew).
Ron, Y., Maoz, I., & Bekerman, Z. (2010). Dialogue and ideology: the effect of continuous involvement in Jewish-Arab dialogue encounters on the ideological perspectives of Israeli-Jews. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 34(6), 571–579.
Smooha, S. (2001). The relationship between Arabs and Jews in Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. In E. Ya’ar & Z. Savit (Eds.), Trends in Israeli society (pp. 231–263). Tel Aviv: Open University of Israel (Hebrew).
Smooha, S. (2013). Still playing by the rules: the index of Arab-Jewish relations in Israel 2012. Haifa: Haifa University and Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute.
Spitzberg, B. H., & Changnon, G. (2009). Conceptualizing intercultural competence. In D. K. Deardorff (Ed.), Intercultural Competence (pp. 2–52). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
TALI website (2016) http://www.tali.org.il/content/%D7%93%D7%99%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%92_%D7%95%D7%96%D7%94%D7%95%D7%AA. Accessed 9 November 2016.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Oranim, Academic College of Education for their support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lev Ari, L., Mula, W. “Us and them”: towards intercultural competence among Jewish and Arab graduate students at Israeli colleges of education. High Educ 74, 979–996 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0088-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0088-7