Superdiversity in Israel: the relationship of religious and ethnic diversity and sense of belonging among boundary-crossing teachers

Abstract

ABSTRACT Boundary-crossing teachers are teachers who work in schools with different cultural characteristics than their main belonging group. Fifty-six Israeli teachers who identified themselves as religious teachers in secular schools and 41 teachers of different ethnic origin than most other teachers responded to open-ended questions in an online questionnaire. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed that social and professional connections contribute to teachers’ sense of belonging in the two groups. Teachers of different ethnic origin noted ethnic jokes and various cultural norms as contributing to a sense of otherness, while religious teachers noted the issues of religious practices and the political tensions around religion. The research sheds light on the diversity of diversity, how the sensitivities of each minority group lead to feelings of otherness while the same common good leads to a sense of belonging.