Abstract
<p style="text-align: justify;">The research investigated whether there is a correlation between participation in a course entitled "Diversity and multiculturalism in the global era" as perceived by Jewish and Arab students in Israel and a change in the students' attitudes and behaviors and their performance of activities in a multicultural context in the education field. The course was part of a master's degree program in Policy and Administration in Education in an academic college in central Israel. Pre-course and post-course questionnaires were administered to the course participants. Participants were 528 students; 177 responded to the pre-course questionnaire and 351 responded to the post-course questionnaire. The research findings indicated a direct association between participation in the course and activities conducted in the education field. In addition, students’ acquisition of knowledge on multiculturalism mediated the association between participation in the course and performance of multicultural activities in the education field. Differences were found between Jewish and Arab students' reports: Jews reported a multicultural academic atmosphere significantly more than Arabs. Contrastingly, Arab students gave significantly higher grades than Jewish students to reciprocal relations between the groups in the college and reported a more positive change in their attitudes towards the other group and towards multiculturalism and were more convinced that the course contributed to their multicultural thinking. These findings have theoretical and practical implications that can inform policymakers planning education for multiculturalism as a permanent component in academic programs, while responding to different sectors' cultural uniqueness to promote equality between them.</p>
Highlights
Living in a pluralistic society in which ethnically, nationally and religiously different groups sometimes live in conflict with one another, poses a great challenge for higher education institutions in the 21st century
The research examined the impact of a course entitled, "Diversity and multiculturalism in the global era," on Jewish and Arab course participants who were enrolled in a master's degree program in Policy and Administration in Education
The participants indicated that the course had increased their knowledge on multiculturalism, changed their former attitudes and helped them to advance activities in a multicultural context within educational settings
Summary
Living in a pluralistic society in which ethnically, nationally and religiously different groups sometimes live in conflict with one another, poses a great challenge for higher education institutions in the 21st century. Some Jewish and Arab school principals manage shared spaces (Shwed et al, 2014) These changes require higher education institutions to train their graduates to deal with this complex reality, and one way is by requiring students to take multicultural courses. The Higher Education Council and Israel's President, Reuven Rivlin,†have encouraged higher education institutions to promote education for multiculturalism as part of different learning programs This encouragement has led the management of one private college in Israel to introduce a core course in multiculturalism as part of its master's degree program in Policy and Administration in Education, a course in which both Jewish and Arab students participate, and which aims to equip the future pedagogic leadership of the Israeli education system with the necessary knowledge and skills. To the best of our knowledge, these associations have not been examined previously, in the context of the Israeli education system, nor have the differences between Jewish and Arab students been evaluated
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