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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.

Models the trade-offs between education in secular subjects, formal and informal, and the formation of religion-specific human capital. Explores some implications of negative externalities between religious and secular education. Develops hypotheses about religious tensions in the American public school system and means of coping with them. Discusses some implications for social cohesion in a religiously pluralistic school system.

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.

This introduction sets the scene for the study by explaining the rationale for presenting a comparative analysis of five nation states’ governance systems; England, Northern Ireland, Arabs in Israel, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States, with Nigerian interests represented in the research design. The context is that of a global phenomenon of a Black–White achievement gap (Wagner, 2010). The quality is world leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour. We present a theory of colonisation between groups with different interests, which includes nation states colonising other nation states, and dominant groups within nation states colonising marginalised groups. We also explored how dominant groups within educational governance systems may colonise marginalised groups within education governance systems. We theorised colonisation using Karpman’s Triangle (1968) identifying that different groups can be oppressor, and/or victim, and/or rescuer, and these roles may shift as changes occur in power and economic influence. We present the Empowering Young Societal Innovators for Equity and Renewal Model (Taysum et al., 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) with five principals for equity and renewal. We explain the turbulence that senior-level leaders experience and how education governance systems need to empower their autonomy as credentialed educational professionals’ with track records of school improvement. Impact strategies to optimise students’ learning and students’ outcomes, and build the community’s values of social justice, courage and prudence need to underpin social mobility. These innovations are only possible if they are informed by grass roots participatory philosophical inquiry, that is informed by and informs policy, and is carefully monitored for quality assurance against the highest of educational professional standards.

This chapter examined how ethnicity and culture affect perceptions and practices of social justice leadership in Jewish and Arab schools. Four female principals’ were interviewed. Key findings revealed that the principals’ background contributed to the shaping of their awareness and commitment to implementing principles of social justice in their schools. Although these female Jewish and Arab principals have grown up and developed in the same life circles as male principals, their experiences were highly influenced by gender, ethnicity, culture, and special circumstances that position them in situations that they see as unjust. Implications 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.

This chapter examines the processes of rewriting nationhood in educational narratives regarding the Second World War (WWII) in Poland. Using mixed methods, this case study analyzes narrative change in state-approved history textbooks published between 1977 and 2008, thus covering the period of political transition from a communist to a democratic Poland. Although trends in learning theory and international norms suggest that attention to diversity should have increased in textbooks, in Poland these trends have been subsumed by more long-lasting Polish specific cultural tropes. WWII narratives, in particular, emphasize an ethnically homogeneous nation. Throughout the 31-year sample, educating youth about WWII in Poland continues to be focused on reclaiming “Polishness” rather than on espousing global understandings and citizenship.