Citizenship Education in Israel – A Jewish-Democratic State

Abstract

Our point of departure is that the education of future citizens is a field that is greatly sensitive to the macro-political cultures of nations and the micro-political culture of schools within these nations. To comprehend the enormity of the task of preparing youngsters to become citizens in Israel we discuss the major features of both Israeli society and the schools. Israeli society is characterized by great heterogeneity and wide rifts among segments of the population that hold contesting views concerning the very foundations of the state of Israel. This context makes the emergence of a shared civic identity a mission that's hard to accomplish. We trace the major milestones of citizenship education from the pre-state period (Yishuv) until today and conclude that citizenship education progressed from a highly emotional nationalistic focus, centering on civic obligations, to a more cognitive, discipline-oriented civic education with greater awareness of civil liberties and human rights. We also conclude that citizenship education is still inadequately implemented in the schools.