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Defense of A Doctoral Dissertation by Mirvat Abu Asab in Educational Administration

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

The Ph.D. student Mirvat Abu Asab defended her dissertation titled: "The Impact of the Israelization of Educational Curricula on the National Identity of Secondary School Students in East Jerusalem from the Teachers' Perspective and Their Role in Developing Methods to Strengthen It".

The study aimed to investigate the impact of the Israelization of educational curricula on the national identity of secondary school students in East Jerusalem from the teachers’ point of view and their role in developing ways to enhance it. The sample consisted of (255) male and female teachers of social studies, Arabic language, and Islamic education in secondary schools in East Jerusalem, and (12) male and female teachers were interviewed by the focus group method, who were chosen by the purposive technique.

The results showed that the degree of the impact of the Israelization of educational curricula on the national identity of secondary school students in East Jerusalem from the point of view of teachers was medium, as the degree of the components of the geographical and historical dimension, the linguistic dimension, the religious dimension, and the dimension of social and cultural values of national identity in the Palestinian curriculum were significant, and scored low in the distorted Palestinian the Israeli curriculum. The degree of the role of teachers in promoting national identity was great in the various educational curricula used in secondary schools in East Jerusalem. The results showed that there were not statistically significant differences in the estimates of the study sample of the impact of the Israelization of educational curricula on the national identity of students due to the variables of gender, years of experience, and the subject taught by the teacher. The study also indicated that the change in the distorted book (Palestine’s Geography and Modern and Contemporary History) for the tenth grade focused mainly on areas/elements: awareness of national history and cultural heritage with a rate of (35.2%). The geographical and natural importance of Palestine was estimated to be (27.3%).

The study recommended the need for teachers to educate and support students about the critical and political issues in the history of Palestine through the hidden curriculum and correct the forged history that is included in the distorted Palestinian and the Israeli curriculum, as well as encourage students to conduct scientific research, and practice critical thinking. The study also recommended that teachers encourage students to search for alternative sources of information, and participate in school trips to the displaced villages in addition to supporting and strengthening community institutions for the steadfastness of schools in East Jerusalem that apply the Palestinian curriculum through financial support and holding awareness seminars periodically for the educational staff in the city of Jerusalem.

The dissertation was supervised by Professor Khaled Abu Asbeh, and the committee of examiners included: Dr. Sami Adwan, Dr. Suhail Salha, and Dr. Mahmoud Obeid.