Section archive - Formal Education

This study examines the conflictual interaction in the context of the recent rise of Haredi (Jewish ultra-Orthodox) participation in Israeli higher education, asking: How do students from bounded religious communities legitimize their participation in academic learning? Through 27 semi-structured interviews with Haredi students, the authors uncovered four modes of legitimation: (1) existential—viewing academic learning as a means for improved welfare; (2) community-based—expressing communal tolerance toward academia; (3) tailored—referencing adaptation of the pedagogic environment to student needs and demands; and (4) epistemic—reconciling scientific and religious knowledge. Paradoxically, they found that the growth within academia of educational enclaves with firm boundaries actually fosters greater affinity toward scientific knowledge among learners.

The simple truth is that we don’t know when we will return to school. We are hopeful that the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year will take place in our classrooms. We know that at some point in the future that we will return. But as Heidi Hayes Jacobs recently said, “We have to start thinking about how we don’t go back to school, but how we go forward to school.” This extraordinary moment we are living, teaching and learning through will eventually end, but it would be a huge mistake to go back to school as it was when we have an opportunity to go forward to school as it ought to be. Here are four ways we should begin thinking about going forward to school.

This qualitative research aims to explore the experiences of teachers in the implementation of prayer services in religious high schools for girls in Israel. Twenty teachers from three different schools were interviewed as part of this qualitative research study. Interviews were conducted during 2017–2018. The research focused on what teachers felt were the goals of prayer services in schools and the challenges they faced in their implementation. The research points to reasons why, from teachers' perspectives, these services are not maximizing their impact on the religious development of many students.

The development of non-Orthodox Jewish day schools in Los Angeles in the 1970s to 1990s can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the city’s geography, the deterioration of public education, court-ordered busing that began in the 1970s, and strong rabbinic personalities. Yet, as elementary day schools proliferated throughout the city, educators struggled to keep secondary day schools afloat. Contributing factors to the challenges secondary schools faced included sprawling city geography, lack of communal support, and parental desire to send children to established high schools with proven track records for college preparation and admission.