Bargaining with the system: A mixed-methods study of Arab teachers in Israel |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Social Work, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel;2. Department of Education, The Western Galilee College, Israel;3. Department of Education, University of Haifa, Israel;4. School of Social Work, Faculty of Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel;1. Department of Economics, Bar Ilan University, Israel;2. Department of Economics, Ben Gurion University, Israel and Ruppin Academic Center, Israel |
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| Abstract: | Research on minority-majority relations usually focuses on the impact of the hegemony on everyday life. In this study we chose to focus on the way minority teachers bargain with the power relations within their work environment as a microcosm of their strategies in the social arena in general. 163 Arab-Israeli secondary-school teachers completed an online questionnaire and were matched with 163 Jewish teachers according to demographic variables. 25 of the 163 teachers completed the optional open-ended question that comprised the data for the qualitative analysis. In the quantitative analysis, we found that Arab teachers showed less knowledge of the Ministry of Education guidelines regarding teachers’ freedom of speech, conducted fewer discussions of Controversial Public Issues (CPI) and rated the importance of their role as promoting active citizenship lower than their Jewish counterparts. In the qualitative analysis, three main strategies Arab teachers use emerged: ‘evasion’, ‘toning down’ and ‘promoting a shared society’. Arab teachers negotiate between their needs for self-preservation, and their national and professional identities in an implicit cost-benefit assessment. This analysis coincides with Kandiyoti’s (1988) model of women’s bargaining with the patriarchy, corresponding to Arab teachers as a governed minority group that negotiates with the hegemony. In each strategy, there is a different balance between the personal benefits, the risks involved, and the community interests one has in mind. The research sheds light on the precarious position of Arab teachers in Israel, and the flexibility that they are pressed to employ in order to muddle through. |
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| Keywords: | Bargaining theory Mixed-methods Minority Controversial Public Issues |
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