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This paper aims to provide useful insights into educational under‐achievement among Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel (PAI), investigating the perceptions of local educational administrators (LEAs) towards the education system and its modus vivendi, to uncover difficulties and suggest directions to improve the processes and achievements of the PAI education system.

Qualitative interviews were conducted with 16 stakeholders in local education (mayors, education department managers; school principals and parents’ representatives) in four Arab local governments in Israel to elucidate attitudes toward education.

The small random sample cannot claim to be representative however worrying problems were revealed: deficient resources in comparison to the Jewish education system; an ineffective political culture in local government; inferior status and problematic functioning of Arab education department heads and lack of inclusion of professionals and parents in decision‐making. These factors negatively impact the education system and its products.

The paper suggests local government should determine appropriate local policy, positioning education as a high priority with efficient education departments, more professional staff, and suitable education programs. Additionally state government should provide equal resources for the Arab education system, to lever Arab education in Israel.

The research aimed to clarify how supervisors in the Arab education system act to close the achievement gaps and to introduce learning programs that can empower students and improve their achievements. Qualitative research employed in-depth interviews with supervisors in the Arab education system, which constitutes a substantial element of the schools’ governance. The research attempted to answer the following questions: (1) Which steps do education administrators in the Arab education system take to reduce students’ underachievement, widen circles of cooperation and empower change agents during crises that deepen achievement gaps between Arab and Jewish students? (2) Do Arab school supervisors understand their interplay with government policies as empowering or disempowering them to improve students’ achievements and ensure the curriculum’s cultural relevance? (3) To what extent do the supervisors believe that cultural change is required to enable them to empower school communities to become societal innovators for equity, peace and renewal within existing administrative structures?

Research findings were interpreted through the lens of Turbulence Theory (Gross, 2014). Findings indicated that the supervisors strive to improve students’ achievements. A major challenge is to ensure the relevance of learning programs to the school community, while mediating between local community demands and the technocratic accountability imposed by the Ministry of Education for the implementation of its policies. This leadership is isolated in its efforts to establish fairness and education for empowerment and coexistence in a divided society. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

The chapter looks at policies regarding access to higher education (HE) for the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel (PAMI). Recently, HE among PAMI has expanded compared to previous years, but the proportion of PAMI students in Israeli institutions of HE (14%) is still not equal to the percentage of PAMI (20%). The Council for Higher Education (CHE) in Israel has been trying to increase the accessibility of PAMI students in institutions of HE through the implementation of several projects and academic programs and the expectation of reaching 17% in 2021. The chapter has three main aims: (1) to describe the decisions and recommendations of CHE for increasing the rate of peripheral students in HE, (2) to trace their implementation in HE institutions, and (3) to investigate the influences of these policies in schools through interviews with secondary school principals and secondary students in PAMI schools to understand how they act to improve students’ awareness of these initiatives and to improve access to HE for their graduates. A qualitative-phenomenological study analyzes policy guidelines regarding HE for PAMI as set out by the two main committees established by the Israeli CHE. The findings may have international significance since similar difficulties are encountered in access to HE among underprivileged or peripheral populations in other world states.

The paper seeks to analyze the characteristics of higher education (HE) among Palestinian Arabs in Israel (PAI). It aims to indicate the main trends that have taken place in higher education since the establishment of the State of Israel, especially in the last decade, and to examine the main factors that have hindered access to higher education for this minority group.

The study is based on a meta‐analysis of official statistics and other official documents, and on an analysis of relevant recent research studies.

The analysis shows that although there has been an increase in the numbers and percentages of PAI studying in Israeli HE institutes, especially for women, structural blocks still hinder their access to Israeli HE institutes, a situation exacerbated by their deficient preparation in secondary school. Their disproportionate under‐representation in the HE system reflects policies relating to power distribution and control in Israeli society.

Policy favoring re‐distribution of power alongside affirmative action legislation could influence the structure of the HE system and improve PAI minority representation in Israeli HE institutes.

The paper indicates the need for affirmative action to increase the Palestinian minority population's access to higher education in Israel.

Studies have shown that teachers' perceptions and expectations of their working environment shape their perceived stress. The present study draws upon implicit leadership theory and builds on the job demands-control (JD-C) model to investigate whether there are differences in the implications of participative decision-making and paternalistic leadership for teachers' perceived stress in the Israeli Arab education system.

Data were collected through validated questionnaires returned by a two-stage cluster random sampling of 350 teachers randomly chosen from 70 Israeli Arab elementary schools. Paternalistic leadership and participative decision-making were considered as group-level variables to lower the risk of common method variance. The proposed model was tested through hierarchical regression analysis. Finally, to test the hypothesis that paternalistic leadership and participative decision-making standardized beta weights were statistically significantly different from each other, their corresponding 95% confidence intervals were estimated via bias corrected bootstrap (1000 re-samples).

The findings indicated differences in the levels of the principal's paternalistic leadership and participative decision-making as perceived by the Israeli Arab teachers. Also, the results indicated that participative decision-making was negatively correlated with teachers' perceived stress beyond the influence of paternalistic leadership.

Examining teachers' working conditions and resources can be important since they affect teachers' perceived stress, which may in turn affects school results in the Arab education system in Israel. This study can contribute to the development of training programs for teachers to improve and adapt principals' leadership practices to the sociocultural context of the Arab education system in Israel.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the issue of school-based management (SBM) in elementary schools in the Arab education system in Israel, comparing schools experienced in SBM, schools beginning to use SBM and schools that do not use SBM.

A quantitative research used a structured questionnaire to gather responses from 214 teachers from ten Arab schools in Israel, 70 from schools that do not practice SBM, 64 from schools beginning to use SBM and 80 from schools defined as experienced in the use of SBM. The questionnaire included six parts.

Findings indicated that perceived improvements in pedagogy, organizational structure and participation in decision making were strikingly evident in schools with experience of SBM, more than in the two other types of school. Contrastingly, perceived improvements in budget management were more evident in schools beginning to use SBM. It was also found that teachers teaching in schools with experience in SBM reported the highest levels of satisfaction while teachers teaching in schools that do not use SBM reported lowest levels of satisfaction. The most influential dimension of satisfaction was teachers’ participation in decision making.

The paper is original in its context, uniqueness, social and practical contribution.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of parental involvement among 317 teachers in the Arab education system in Israel.

A questionnaire measured teachers’ attitudes regarding parents’ involvement in the school relating to pedagogy, resources, and control.

The findings show that Arab teachers perceive parents’ involvement as related to pedagogy and resources rather than control. In addition, the research results revealed that young teachers in terms of age, and seniority of teaching, and teachers who are not members of the management team demonstrated a stronger perception of the pedagogy and control components than did older and senior teachers and teachers who are members of the management team. However, older and senior teachers and teachers who are members of the management team had a stronger perception that parental involvement related to resources than did young teachers and teachers who are not members of the management team.

Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

The paper contributes to our understandings of the different components that affect parental involvement in developing and minority societies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Arab deputy-principals’ perceptions of their role in Arab schools in Israel, relating to their expectations regarding principal-deputy relations and their aspirations for promotion.

A two-stage qualitative study included an open-ended questionnaire completed by 27 Arab deputy-principals, studying in a deputy-principals’ training program for the “New Horizons” reform. The questionnaire related to their perceptions of their professional role. Data from the open questionnaires were supplemented by data from in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with eight of the deputy-principals.

The deputy-principals perceived their role as arduous and complex, indicating that this was the result of vague role definitions. They mostly dealt with administration though they longed to devote themselves to pedagogy, shaping education policy and the school vision. Most did not aspire to attain principalship.

A clearer role definition is required for the deputy-principal. Principal-deputy cooperation should be enhanced. Deputy-principals need better role-related training and supervision that considers the requirements of the school settings and culture.

This is the first study to examine the role of deputy-principals in Arab society in Israel.

This chapter describes the current state of special education in Israel as well as what the future holds with possible solutions to improve services for individuals with disabilities. Israel is a very complex society and, as such, the educational system is very complex as well. The development of the special education system in Israel will be described as well as the current policies. In addition, different service delivery models will be explained. Inclusionary practices in Israel will be discussed as well as the prevalence and incidence rates of different disabilities in Israel and how they have changed over time. Finally, different strategies and models for implementation of services will be described and the importance of teacher training to meet student needs will be highlighted.

The research investigates perceptions of teachers in the Arab education system in Israel concerning the effect of their principal’s leadership and gender on their motivation. Relying on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as an analytic tool to understand the Arab school, the purpose of this paper is to answer the following research questions: first, how do the teachers perceive the leadership style and gender of their principal and what influence do these perceptions have on their motivation? Second, what are the influences of the different dimensions of culture described by Hofstede on the teachers’ motivation?

To answer these questions, 18 teachers from different schools in the Arab education system (10 female and 8 male) were interviewed.

The research revealed three themes which describe the teachers’ perceptions of their principals’ leadership styles with consideration of the principals’ gender: the principals’ involvement and sharing of school operations and decision making with the teachers; the extent of autonomy given to teachers; and establishment of principal–teacher relationships.

The paper concludes with implications of these leadership styles for teachers’ motivation for work, and suggestions are given to improve Arab principals’ practices and thus to enhance teachers’ motivation.