Teaching for social change : a Palestinian-Israeli case of peace education

Abstract

This paper reports on an educational programme that aimed to change prevailing attitudes of student-teachers and their pupils toward regional collaboration in managing water resources involved in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. A curriculum dedicated to this issue was developed and implemented in five teachers' colleges in Israel: two Arab colleges, two Jewish secular and one Jewish religious college. The student-teachers subsequently taught different versions of the new curriculum to junior high school pupils, as part of their practicum activities. The curriculum was intended to broaden student-teachers' and pupils' knowledge base concerning water use and management issues. It was assumed that the new knowledge acquired would support the development of concomitant belief systems and attitudinal changes regarding issues of peaceful coexistence. This intervention was based on cognitive theories of attitudinal change (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Ajzen and Madden, 1986; Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Pre- and post intervention knowledge and belief questionnaires were developed and administered to the student-teacher sample, (133 students) and to the junior high school pupils they taught (300 pupils). At. the end of the programme, both Israeli Arabs' and Israeli Jews' perceptions about water were more realistic. They tended to perceive water as a regional resource that should be shared and treated cooperatively. However, within the Jewish student-teachers sample, religious Jewish student--teachers remained high in their separatist position, whilst secular Jewish student-teachers moved toward preferring collaboration. The results of our study show that although student perceptions toward sharing water resources were affected by their national and religious identity, these perceptions were not immutable. Education can play a role in preparing the people of our region toward cooperation and peaceful coexistence.