Israeli High School Research Articles

Self-Regulated Learning and Motivation Among Gifted and High-Achieving Students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Disciplines: Examining Differences Between Students From Diverse Socioeconomic Levels

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is an active process that assists students in managing their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions to navigate their learning experiences successfully. The study examined the differences in motivation and SRL between gifted and high achievers (GHAs) and typical achievers (TAs) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines by addressing the contribution of socioeconomic status (SES). A sample of 151 students in 11th and 12th grades from two high schools in Israel were divided into four study groups based on their general intelligence, school grades, and SES. Participants completed SRL and motivation questionnaires. The results indicated that among GHAs, all motivation measures were significantly higher than those of TAs, especially among students from low-SES environments. GHA students reported using more SRL strategies than TA students regarding organization, metacognition, time and learning environment, peer learning, and effort regulation. Students from low-SES environments reported using more organization strategies than those from high-SES environments, whereas TA students surpassed their GHA counterparts in critical thinking.

Exploring middle-level school leadership styles through role-play simulations

PurposeThe study's main goal is to investigate different leadership styles that characterize middle-level leaders, the intermediate leadership tier of role holders in school, as they practice leadership scenarios through active participation in a professional learning process of role-play simulation, using a social-ecological approach.Design/methodology/approachThirty middle-level leaders from different Israeli high schools and districts participated in the study during an M.A. course in an educational leadership program. The authors used qualitative analysis to examine role-play simulations of leadership scenarios based on group debriefings. This content analysis was conducted within a two-dimensional theoretical framework composed of leadership style theory and a social-ecological model.FindingsThe study findings address four main leadership styles: authentic, transformational, participative and transactional. Regarding their appearance within different social-ecological layers, the interpersonal layer was the most salient one with a prominent appearance of transformational and authentic leadership styles. On the organizational and communal layers, authentic leadership was more prominent. The study findings demonstrate multidimensionality in both the leadership styles and social-ecological layers, as different styles appeared in different layers concurrently.Practical implicationsThe findings may help articulate the nature and characteristics of middle-level school leadership. They may also provide relevant theoretical content and instructional strategy to develop simulation-based preparation programs for middle-level leaders.Originality/valueThe study findings highlight unique leadership characteristics of middle-level school leaders and suggest a contextual perception of their leadership styles within a social-ecological framework.

The Theological Sources of the Torah and Labor (Torah U’melakha) Yeshivas

In this article, I seek to reveal the theological sources of the Israeli high school yeshivas designated “Torah U’melakha” (Torah and labor). High school yeshivas are schools for 9th–12th grade boys that offer religious studies in the first half of the day and secular studies, i.e., science and languages, in the second half. These schools serve mainly religious Zionist and modern orthodox society. Torah U’melakha yeshivas are high school yeshivas that are unique for combining vocational studies in the curriculum, such that graduates acquire a trade and can serve in the army and join the labor force in their field of expertise. Over the years, some of the Torah U’melakha yeshivas were subsequently closed and others changed their nature from vocational to technological. However, the educational trend toward “Torah and labor” has not disappeared. Vocational education, which became technological as well, has been assimilated in nearly all high school yeshivas, which, to a great degree, made the Torah U’melakha yeshivas redundant. The ideological and theological value of engaging in “Torah and work” became embedded in the pedagogic consciousness of religious Zionism and is continuing to infuse the many high school yeshivas in Israel and elsewhere.

The relationship between school ethical climate and school effectiveness in Israel 2020

The current research discusses the ethical aspects that were currently not studied yet in the context of the teacher attrition phenomenon and its impact on school effectiveness, which is measured in this research by promoting achievements basing the assumption that teacher perception of ethical climate might explain teacher attrition behaviors, including leaving teaching (Rosenblatt & Shapira-Lishchinsky, 2017). This research has examined teacher perceptions of school ethical climate through three dimensions found to be relevant in the 21st-century era in the aspects of organizational climate in general and school climate in particular, caring ethical climate, law and code ethical climate, and instrumental ethical climate. For this purpose, quantitative research is based on the pioneer researchers Victor & Cullen’s (1987, 1988) questionnaire and self-report of teachers regarding teacher tendency to leave the teaching profession, and their perception of learner achievement promotion in the context of ethical climate in their school was used. To deepen and expand the understanding of teacher perceptions, qualitative research including in-depth interviews was also performed. The research population consisted of 223 teachers from elementary and junior high schools in Israel. The current research indicates a principal finding that expresses the influence and importance of a caring ethical climate in reducing attrition behaviors and teacher attrition intentions and promoting learner achievements. Moreover, it was found that law and code ethical climate is correlated with promoting student achievements, and therefore integrating these two ethical climate dimensions will be the foundation for a program for new and senior teacher preservation in the education system. The research findings are currently relevant since the education system in Israel faces a severe shortage of teachers due to increased teacher attrition of teaching.

Academic Procrastination and Perceptions of Academic Success in Israeli High-School Students

Academic Procrastination and Perceptions of Academic Success in Israeli High-School Students

Difficulties of Students from the Palestinian Authority who Learn in an Arab High School in Israel

The aim of research is to investigate high school students who have moved to Israel from the Palestinian Authority in order to study. We used qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews. The research participants of this study were students and teachers affiliated with a high school in the North of Israel. The paper discusses those students’ experiences of identity crisis between their self-identity and their national identity. The paper also voices the students’ feelings of alienation and disconnection to their school community, leading to gaps in the academic, social, and familial difficulties. This study shows that these difficulties lead to a conflict of identity between their original identity – the Palestinian Authority – and their new identity as students in an Arab school in Israel. This situation might lead to feelings of disconnection and alienation, that must be addressed by the entire school community.

A Qualitative Examination of School Counselors' Experiences of Sextortion Cases of Female Students in Israel.

Sextortion (a portmanteau of "sexual" and "extortion") is a relatively new phenomenon of sexual exploitation, which occurs when a person threatens another with the distribution of sexual content on the Internet, to obtain more pictures or videos, money, or have some other demand met. The current study examined how school counselors in Israel perceive the phenomenon of online sextortion. To this end, we conducted a qualitative study based on 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews with school counselors working in middle schools and high schools in Israel, who treated adolescent girls blackmailed over the Internet on sexual grounds. Findings indicate that the school counselors had difficulty in identifying and defining the cases they treated as instances of sextortion, and that in their view the harm was slight. Findings also indicate that school counselors associated the causes of sextortion with the victims and their backgrounds. We found differences between the Arab and secular and national-religious state education in the way Jewish counselors treated the victims and involved additional actors such as the victim's parents and the police. This underscores the importance of providing educational staff with adequate knowledge and tools that are culturally suited to the victims.

A Comparative Study about High School Teachers’ Neuromyths in Turkey and Israel

The aim of this study is to determine the neuromyths among Turkish and Israeli high school teachers and compare them across countries. The Educational Neuroscience Data Collection Scale, which was adapted into Turkish by Gülsün and Köseoğlu (2020) from Dekker et al. (2012) with regard to the brain and its functioning, was utilized as the data collection tool. Teachers working in Turkish high schools and teachers working in the Israeli Ministry of Education constituted the study sample. Between June 2019 and December 2020, there were 184 teachers (Turkey:112; Israel: 72) who volunteered to participate in the study. The research model is a relational investigation based on the general screening model. Data analysis included t-test and chi-square tests; when the independent variable was continuous, the t-test was used for independent groups, and when the independent variable was discrete, the chi-square approach was used, in accordance with the assumptions required to make group comparisons. According to the results of the study, there were significant differences between countries about the brain functions and the items related to neuromyths. However, no statistically significant difference was found between the country averages of the items in the data collection tool and the total item. With the intercountry comparison, it is considered that suggestions for eliminating neuromyths of teachers working in countries and suggestions to be made in teacher training programs will be important.

Rapid Antigen Tests For Safe School Opening in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era.

Background:Since the beginning of the Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, school closure as a mitigating measure was at the center of a public and professional debate. While the negative effects of school closure cannot be ignored, accumulating data suggested that it is necessary for reducing community transmission. Our study presents an optional strategy for safe school opening during a pandemic, implemented in selected Israeli high schools by a special task force constructed by the Sheba Medical Center (SMC).Methods:The study took place between November 2020 and April 2021. Three schools from different areas of Israel were enrolled. The participants were asked to undergo bi-weekly SARS-CoV-2 rapid diagnostic antigen tests (Ag-RDT). Those who tested positive were requested to self-isolate, whereas their school contacts were tested daily by Ag-RDT. Participants with a previously documented SARS-CoV-2 infection or who were found to be SARS-CoV-2 seropositive upon enrollment were exempted from screening.Results:Of a total of 361 participants who enrolled in the study, 12.3% were found to be seropositive. Fourteen SARS-CoV-2 cases were detected (3.5%), 12 of them in one single school located in an endemic area for SARS-CoV-2. The 14 cases resulted in 84 days of COVID-19-related absence from school, comparing with 1775 potential days of COVID-19-related absence under a strategy implementing self-isolation instead of testing.Conclusions:Safe continuation of academic routine during the pandemic is possible when using rapid Ag-RDT as a screening tool, while allowing swab collection by trained students and teachers.

Doubting leadership: principals shaping a school doubting process within a national curriculum reform

ABSTRACT Success of curriculum reforms calls for both collaborative learning and unlearning processes. Focusing on the latter, school doubting process, an innovative term, is used in this paper as an active framework for organisational unlearning through which educators question their existing mind-sets and unfreeze old approaches to teaching and learning. This qualitative study explores how high school principals shape a school doubting process during the implementation of a national curriculum reform. The study analyses qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 22 Israeli high school principals who have implemented a national curriculum reform from all school districts. The findings indicate two major themes and sub-themes: (1) Nurturing a collective unlearning culture: (a) restructuring school thinking; and (b) creating safe time and space for school doubting; (2) Building school capacity: (a) creating collective opportunities for knowledge and skill development; and (b) encouraging shared responsibility for innovation.

Non-suicidal Self-Injury Among Adolescents From Diverse Ethnocultural Groups in Israel: The Association With Sleep Problems and Internet Addiction

ObjectivesAlthough Non-suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) has received more attention in recent years, most of these studies focused on samples from North American and European countries; consequently, little is known about its patterns and frequency in other cultures as well as its relation to sleep problems and internet addiction. As one of the few studies that aim to fill this gap, the current study examined the prevalence, characteristics, and types of NSSI behaviors among adolescents from diverse ethnocultural groups.MethodsA sample of 642 adolescents, aged 12–18 years, were randomly recruited from different middle and high schools in Israel, employing a snowball sampling technique. The sample included the following: 50% Jews and 34.7% Muslims born in Israel, 9.7% immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU), and 4.4% immigrants from Ethiopia. The participants completed self-report questionnaires that assessed their NSSI, sleep problems, internet addictions, and depressive symptoms.ResultsAlmost one-third of the sample had engaged in NSSI, while 6% frequently injured themselves. More than half of the FSU immigrants and one-third of the Muslim participants indicated that they engaged in NSSI. These two population groups also exhibited severe depressive symptoms, sleep problems, and internet addictions. The most parsimonious correlations with NSSI included being male, an immigrant/Muslim minority who exhibited severe depressive symptoms and internet addictions.ConclusionsThese results emphasize the need for routine NSSI assessments to prevent long-term sequelae, including any forms of suicidal thoughts and behaviors and adult borderline personality disorder (BPD). Primary preventive programs that include adaptive coping skills may eliminate the social contagion effect of NSSI.

Weaponized volunteering in schools: The discourse of volunteering and pre-military education in Israeli high schools

This article examines the interrelations between two educational endeavors in Israeli high schools, which are usually perceived as separated. The first is a pre-military education program that is an inherent part of Israeli schools’ formal and nonformal curriculum. The second is the incorporation of volunteering activity in and for the community as a compulsory prerequisite for the matriculation diploma. An integrative analysis of policy and curricular documents of both programs suggests that a shared common discursive framework characterizes these programs. This discourse glorifies an ideal Israeli citizen who serves his country through both civic volunteering and military service. This dual discourse blurs the boundaries between what is considered civic and what is considered military in the education system. Thus, it calls for a reconsideration of the ways in which civic education may be implemented in the education system together with militaristic ideals.

Destined Failure of Interactions between Israeli-Arabs and Jews— An Analysis on Creative Works’ Presentation of Issues from the Jewish Side

Sociological research have investigated factors to account for the ethnographic conflicts between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Different from previous studies, this paper inquires the factors on the Jewish side that prevent successful interaction between the two ethnographic groups by looking at crucial scenes in creative works of books and films produced by Israeli authors/directors. The first scene is from the Jewish perspective in Amos Oz’s memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness, in which young Oz, a Jewish boy, attempts to interact with Aisha, a young Israeli-Arab girl, but eventually failed because of an accident. The second scene is from a short Israeli film Bus Station which, from an outsider perspective, depicted a brief encounter between an Arab woman and a Jewish woman in Jerusalem. The third scene is the initially successful yet eventually failed relationship between Eyad, a Palestinian boy, and Naomi, a Jewish girl, in an elite Israeli high school from the 2014 film A Borrowed Identity, which is depicted through Eyad’s Arab perspective. Through the analysis of these three narratives, this paper argues that the burden of national responsibility, family influences, and Israeli government’s discriminatory policies are the three main factors on the Jewish side, in ascender order of importance, that make Arab-Jewish interaction hard in Israel.

Teacher identity in elite schools in Israel: Shared habitus, a sense of chosenness, and an open future

This article examined two key questions: What characterizes teacher identity in elite high schools? Whether and how does teacher identity play a role in producing and cultivating privileges? To resolve these questions, 20 teachers in elite high schools in Israel were interviewed. The main research findings revealed three unique characteristics of teacher identity: a shared habitus experience between teachers and students, a sense of chosenness, and the cultivation and practice of an open future. Teachers also described specific metaphors of teacher identity in elite high schools. The Discussion describes how teacher identity in elite high schools acts as a mechanism for ensuring advantage and privilege.

Effect of COVID-19 Closures and Distance-Learning on Biology Research Projects of High School Students in Israel

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a situation, the “anthropopause”, of lockdowns and distancing among individuals to reduce the spread of the disease. One of the major problems to surface is the inequality of the educational process in schools. We present a study of high school students who conduct a year-long research project with an academic. We hypothesized that the projects would not be impacted because of the individual manner of study involved. We analyzed the number of research proposals submitted in the years 2015–2021. We compared the data of the pre-epidemic period with the two pandemic years, 2020 and 2021. Our data show that in the years of the pandemic, significantly less research proposals were submitted, and the number of research proposals rejected was lower, but the total number of research proposals approved, or the number of theses submitted, was not significantly different. The research areas in which Israeli high school students conducted research were mostly in the laboratory (63.2%) and agriculture (27.5%), while ecology was relatively insignificant—whether in captivity (3.1%) or the field (5.1%). A new field that is fast becoming of interest is bioinformatics. Research in agriculture was significantly lower during the pandemic period, while there were no differences in the other subjects between the two periods. We conclude that the fewer research proposals submitted suggest that those that did not take the subject seriously enough did not begin the process. This resulted in a lower number of rejections and is substantiated by the fact that an equal number of students that submitted their final theses did not differ from the years before the pandemic. We are optimistic that the truly motivated students will continue to make the effort to be involved in biology science projects over and above their regular school curriculum and in spite of the COVID-19 restrictions and limitations.

Preservice Teachers’ Experience in Learning and Teaching Social Sciences in Secondary Education Using the Inquiry-Based Learning Method

The ability of teachers to adopt inquiry-based learning depends to a large extent on their knowledge, skills, perception, and attitudes toward it. Therefore, it is important to explore the preservice teachers’ experience of learning and teaching with this method, with the assistance and mediation of preservice teachers’ educators. Preservice teachers participated in a blended course to acquire the teaching skills needed for inquiry-based learning, at the same time gained experience teaching based on this approach in high schools in Israel. The study included 120 preservice teachers who completed questionnaires at the beginning of the course (first measurement) and at the end of the course (second measurement). The findings show that between the two measurements there was an increase in positive attitude toward inquiry-based learning and teaching. Most of the participants noted the difficulties they encountered in applying the inquiry-based method in teaching in schools. In the course of teaching with this method, they acquired tools to cope with these difficulties.

“Mizrahi religion is for laymen custom”: Construction of an ethnoreligious hierarchy in boarding yeshiva high schools in Israel in the 1980s

ABSTRACT Underpinned by Bourdieuian theory, specifically, Bourdieu’s argument in Distinction (1984), this study investigates the instituting of an ethnoreligious social order in yeshiva high schools in Israel in the 1980s, as expressed in the personal accounts of Mizrahi graduates of these schools. The research findings indicate that the educational staff of the yeshiva high schools, being mostly Ashkenazi, constructed Ashkenazi religion as standard, and Mizrahi religion as flawed and out of place in the religious life of the yeshiva high school. The religious and liturgical practices in the yeshiva high schools followed purely Ashkenazi traditions, while the educational staff insisted on marking the inferiority of Mizrahi religion by means of various remarks regarding the students’ ethnic identity, in addition to inversion rituals that degraded Mizrahi religious traditions. The study findings correspond with Religious Zionist society’s preoccupation with the preference of the Ashkenazi version of religion to the Mizrahi version in state religious education in general, and in yeshiva high schools in particular.

Teaching Borders: A Model Arising from Israeli Geography Education

Teaching the topic of a country’s borders can be challenging. This is especially the case in Israel, where not all the state’s borders are agreed: there are internal disagreements between parties on the ground and external disagreements between parts of the international community and the State of Israel. A border, the very symbol of stability and consistency, contains mixed and contradictory aspects; the borders are not always well defined and, for many people, sensitive and contentious subjects. Therefore, teachers often avoid or feel uncomfortable teaching the topic, even though they know well its importance. This study examines existing curricula and textbooks used to teach the topic in Israeli high schools, and develops a picture of teachers’ perceptions of teaching the topic through qualitative research. On this basis, the paper proposes a training model that addresses both the social and emotional side of the subject and the historical and political knowledge required to teach it. The purpose of the model is to better equip and enrich teachers to take on the task while minimizing fear of encountering or provoking adverse reactions. The teacher’s role is to expose students to different perspectives and positions, so students can begin to assess the problematic and complex nature of the topic in general and Israel’s borders in particular.

‘Shooting your voice’: challenging power relations at school through Photovoice

ABSTRACT Despite the popularity of student voice initiatives, there is ample evidence that they fail to challenge power relations at school or help marginalized students make their voices heard. This paper presents a student voice project based on the Photovoice method. The project was implemented with marginalized youth in an urban high school in Israel. Findings show that students experienced significant improvement in their self-confidence and self-esteem and in their ability to engage in dialogue with the school administration in a way that altered their school life, yet they remained skeptical regarding their ability to change power relations at school.

Bullying perpetration and victimization associations to suicide behavior: a longitudinal study

Previous studies have reported a longitudinal association between cybervictimization and suicidal thoughts and behavior. However, the relationship between cyber-perpetration and prospective suicide risk remains unclear. The sample was composed of 2150 at-risk adolescents (mean age 15.42), enrolled in Vocational Education and Training high schools in Israel. Cyberbullying, traditional bullying, depression, hostility, serious suicidal ideations, and suicide attempts were assessed through self-report questionnaires at the beginning of the school year and one year later. All types of victimization and preparation were cross-sectionally associated with suicide ideation and attempts. Longitudinal associations were found between cyber-perpetration and suicidal ideation/attempts. Cyber-perpetrators were found to be over twice more likely to report serious suicidal ideation (OR = 2.04) or attempt suicide (OR = 2.64) in the subsequent year compared to noninvolved adolescents. These associations were significant even after adjusting for baseline depression, hostility, and traditional bullying. Traditional bullying perpetration was prospectively associated with suicide attempts. Traditional victimization was cross-sectionally associated with suicide ideation and attempts but not prospectively. Cybervictimization was prospectively associated with suicide ideation but not to suicide attempts. The findings demonstrate the prospective risk of involvement in bullying in regard to suicide ideation and behavior. Cyberbullying was found to be a somewhat differentiated phenomena from traditional bullying.