This research examined Druze adolescents’ perception of their relationships with parents in Israel. Israeli Druze is a small group accounting for only 2% of Israel’s population. The Druze society is patriarchal; it demands absolute loyalty to the values of religion, family, and clan. Our goal was to explore the impact of increasing intercultural contact with modern Israeli society and the outside world on parent-child relationships in a traditional society that demands absolute loyalty and obedience to elders. The researchers used the phenomenological approach to understand parent-child relationships from the perspective of the adolescents themselves. Twelve Druze adolescents, six females and six males ranging in age from 16 to 18, completed a semi-structured interview in which they were asked to describe their relationships with parents. Participants were prompted to describe a recent conflict, if any, and the way in which the conflict was resolved, as well as a positive and a negative interaction with parents in the past year. Thematic analyses revealed intergenerational conflict related to perceived acculturation gaps. Other consistent themes portrayed supportive parent-child relationships and the adolescents’ commitment to Druze heritage. Overall, findings suggest that although increasing exposure to modern society may lead to intergenerational conflict, Druze adolescents remained grounded in supportive family relationships and their religious heritage.
This pioneer study deals with difficulties faced by the beginning Arab teacher. The theoretical framework of the research is based on Veenman's (1984) analysis, which indicates 24 difficulties faced by the beginning teacher. These difficulties have been classified into eight categories ranked in order of importance. The study seeks to identify the difficulties experienced by the beginning Arab teacher during his first year of teaching and to predict his future dissatisfaction with teaching based on those difficulties. The questionnaire drafted especially for this study was completed by 130 participants (beginning teachers). The responses were analyzed, yielding six factors of difficulty. The findings indicate difficulties involving: 1) the interpersonal communication between beginning Arab teachers on the one hand and both students and parents on the other, 2) overload, 3) didactic and disciplinary knowledge, 4) support and recognition, 5) organizational climate (school culture), and 6) satisfaction. We examined the correlation between the beginning Arab teacher's difficulties and his dissatisfaction with his work. The research findings reveal that the organizational climate (school culture) and overload factors significantly affect the satisfaction variable. With regard to the relation between the beginning Arab teacher's general background characteristics and his difficulties in the first year, the background variable, specialization, was found to affect the factors of difficulty.
This is a pioneering study examining the eighth grade students’ attitudes in the Arab Education System in East Jerusalem towards learning Hebrew as a foreign/second language: their readiness to communicate in it, and the extent of the community support to learning it. The study is based on Schuman’s (1978) social theories regarding acquiring foreign/second language. The extent of the learner’s social integration in the community of the foreign/second language determines the extent of his success in acquiring the language. The study sample included 643 eighth grade students from East Jerusalem schools who are learning Hebrew as an elective subject. The study questionnaire included three parts: 1) Attitudes towards learning a foreign/second language 2) Readiness to communicate in a foreign/second language 3)The social support. The study findings indicate statistically significant positive correlation between all the measures of the following variables: 1) Attitudes towards a foreign/second language and readiness to communicate in it. 2) Attitudes towards Hebrew as a school subject got a higher positive score than attitudes towards the speakers of the language. 3) Family support (father/mother) got a higher positive score than the friends’ support, and this is following the instrumental issue. The main conclusion of the study is that there is a need to formulate a systemic and unique work plan accompanied with an addition of suitable position and budget to handle the problem of teaching Hebrew as a foreign/second language
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