Abstract
The study contributes to the inter-disciplinary field of deliberative pedagogy (DP), which is an engaged learning approach focused on academic processes that facilitate student learning of values, attitudes, and skills that support deliberative practice (Shaffer et al. 2017, xxi). The analysis examines the perceived effects of a DP course on Israeli students’ attitudes associated with the idea of deliberative democracy. The semester-long process was implemented at a private liberal arts college in Israel during three consecutive academic years in 2012 through 2015. Taking a grounded theory approach, the thematic analysis is based on open-ended questionnaire data completed by students who participated in the course (N = 48), and examines their perceptions of the course’s effects. Findings provide empirical support for the theoretical conceptualization of DP as a social learning process designed to affect students’ attitudes associated with deliberative practice within their particular social-political context. The study also contributes to the understanding of deliberative faith and its role in deliberative pedagogy. The author discusses the implications for Israel and similarly conflicted political contexts as well as for the field at large.
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Notes
This study is part of a broader research.
Quotes are the author’s translation of the original Hebrew responses.
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Acknowledgements
I thank anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts, and Naama Weiss-Yaniv for her help with the data analysis. I also wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Kettering Foundation for their support of this project, especially to Maxine Thomas for bringing me into the Deliberative Pedagogy Research Group which provided a stimulating space for developing these ideas. I thank my colleagues at Netanya Academic College for their help and support with the implementation of the student conferences over the years. Most of all, I am grateful to the wonderful students who helped lead the deliberative student conferences, specifically Dana Braunstein, Maggie Ben Gad, Daniel Elfenbain, Michal Manger, Ori Tenenboim, and Idan Vaknin, and to all the students who participated in my course Conference Project. Without their willingness to step into the unknown, and their engaged participation, cooperation, and enthusiasm, this project could not have been realized.
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Manosevitch, I. Deliberative pedagogy in a conflicted society: Cultivating deliberative attitudes among Israeli college students. High Educ 78, 745–760 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00368-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00368-6