Minority-Group Teachers‘ Different Attitudes toward Controversial Political Issues in Israel (Diferencias actitudinales de los docentes de grupos minoritarios en relación con las controversias políticas en Israel)

Abstract

The importance of teachers holding discussions of controversial political issues (CPI) in class is commonly acknowledged, but teachers vary in their willingness to engage in such discussions. The aim of this study is to compare different groups of minority teachers with regards to their attitudes towards CPI. Questionnaires were obtained from 282 teachers belonging to five different minority-teacher groups in Israel. Their attitudes towards conducting discussions of CPI were examined in relation to self-efficacy, acculturation attitudes and demographic variables. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that teachers’ pluralistic acculturation attitude was the most important predictor of attitudes towards CPI, followed by teachers’ social self-efficacy. Arab teachers scored lower than all other groups on organizational self-efficacy and exhibited the most integrationist approaches, while teachers of low-incidence ethnic origin exhibited the most assimilationist approach. The research draws attention to the diversity of diversity — that different minority groups approach the issue of CPI depending on the nature of their relationship with the majority group, the size and political power of the minority group and its acculturation approach.