Israel

__**The Teaching of Civics in Israel **__ by Aviv Cohen **Country Overview** Israel is a parliamentary democracy located in the Middle East. Following a legacy rooted an the ancient era, the modern state of Israel was founded in 1948. Israel is defined as the homeland of the Jewish people. Today, its population can be divided into a Jewish majority (82%) and a non-Jewish minority (18%).

**Context** In 1953 the Israeli parliament passed The State Education Act that divided the Israeli educational system into four main branches: Jewish secular, Jewish religious, Arab and Jewish orthodox. Civics is taught in the same manner in the first three branches. It is interesting to note that the language of instruction in the Arab branch is Arabic. Therefore the official textbook and exams (see bellow) are translated into Arabic.

Civics takes up a minor portion of the overall educational plan: In the elementary level civics is not taught as an independent subject matter whatsoever; For the junior high level curriculum materials do exist but since civics is not defined as a compulsory subject it is taught in a small amount of schools nationwide and for only one hour per week; Highs school level civics is a compulsory subject matter that is taught toward the nationwide matriculation exam (known as the //Bagrut//) in the 11th or 12th grade for three hours per week.

In 1994 the Israeli ministry of education published a new set of curriculum guidelines for high school civics lessons. T his new curriculum replaced the previous guidelines, which were written in the 1970’s, and are special in the sense that the writers adopted a new approach to the teaching of citizenship lessons in the Israeli educational system. These new guidelines put an emphasis on the substantive components on which the Israeli political system is set on, as opposed to the previous curriculum in which only the procedural aspects were emphasized. In addition, the writers of the new curriculum stress the importance of implementing this new curriculum in most branches of the Israeli educational system, including both the Jewish secular, Jewish religious and Arab sectors.
 * Subject Content Standards **

 The main question that the writers faced when writing these curricular guidelines relates to the tension between the definition of Israel as both a Jewish state and as a democracy.

**Materials** Based on the curriculum standards the ministry of education published the official textbook “To be citizens in Israel: A Jewish and democratic state”. The textbook itself is divided into three parts: (1) Israel as a Jewish state (2) Israel as a democratic state and (3) The government, society and politics of Israel.

In 2006 the “Gesher” educational organization published a new textbook based on the national curriculum standards breaking the hegemony of the official textbook. This new textbook offers both an overview of the different terms and topics that compose the knowledge base of the subject matter of civics as well as numerous exercises that invite the students to process and evaluate these pieces of knowledge in a critical manner. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 23px;">The exercises that appear throughout the book are mainly analytically in their tendency and demand that the students evaluate texts and opinions but not ask the students to develop their own personal opinion regarding these issues.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">One feature of this new textbook is that each topic is presented as a dilemma between different points of view. F or example, the topic of nationality is presented as a dilemma between the ideas of “nationality" and "equity", the issues of civil rights are presented as tensions between individualistic liberty and the common good and the topic of the rule of law is presented as a question regarding the limits of power.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">**Nature of Curriculum** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">The civics curriculum standards do not present a clear and coherent conception of civic education that it wishes to promote. Instead, the different conceptions exist side by side in an overlapping and contradictory manner. Whereas the students are supposed to absorb procedural knowledge (liberal civic education) they are also asked to develop a feeling of affiliation to the substantive Jewish characteristics of the state (republican civic education). In addition, the students are to grow tolerant toward the different minorities of the state (diversity civic education) while utilizing critical intellectual tools (critical civic education).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">This survey of the Israeli civics curriculum standards and textbooks reveals a reality in which all four theoretical conceptions of civic education are manifested throughout the educational process. The liberal conception of civic education has influence mainly on the parts of the curriculum that put emphasis on the procedural aspects of citizenship. In addition, the emphasis put on the development of individualistic skills represents this school of thought. On the other hand, the republican conception is apparent regarding the main goal of teaching civics which is framed as the need to create a feeling of affiliation between the student and the state. Although this notion rarely appears in an explicit manner, it is clear that this conception had an influence on the general direction that these texts took. The diversity conception of civic education is apparent in specific parts of the curriculum as well, particularly regarding the reality of the Israel as a nation state that encompasses within its borders ethnic minorities. The critical conception of civic education seems to have the least influence, but its type of approach does appear regarding the need to relate to multiple truths as well as the demand that the students develop critical thinking skills.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Main Issues and Challenges **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">This review shows that the current reality of teaching civics in the Israeli educational system may be seen as a cacophony of voices representing the different conceptions of civic education, resulting in a lack of inner coherence and consistence of either the curriculum or of the textbooks.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">In a state such as Israel, which suffers from ongoing political tensions and numerous social rifts, as well as a lack of a clear civic tradition, it is my opinion that there is a need for a coherent conception of citizenship and civic education to be implemented in a consistent manner in the educational system.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">**Resources** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Avnon, D. (2006). //Civic literacy in Israel// (Hebrew - שפת אזרח בישראל). Jerusalem: Magnes Press.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Ichilov, O. (1999). Citizenship in a divided society: The case of Israel. In J. Torney-Purta, J. Schwille & J. Amadeo (Eds.), //Civic education across countries: Twenty-four national case studies from the IEA civic education project// (pp. 371-393). Amsterdam: IEA.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Pinson, H. (2007). Inclusive Curriculum? Challenges to the Role of Civic Education in a Jewish and Democratic State. //Curriculum Inquiry//, 37(4), 351-382.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Israel Ministry of Education, The Civics Supervisor Web Site <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/Mazkirut_Pedagogit/MafmarEzrachut/Hodaot/dvarhamafmarit.htm