Search results for: Kindergartens

Singing is part of a nation's culture and reflects its values and ideology. Singing also constitutes a tool for instilling educational, social, and cultural messages. The purpose of this study is to compare the repertoire of songs sung nowadays in kindergartens in two geographical areas in Israel: the center of the country and the northern periphery. This is a comparative research. The population included kindergarten teachers, from both geographical areas. The research tools used were a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. Research findings show that there is a significant difference between the repertoire of songs selected by teachers working in kindergartens in the two different geographical areas.

This article summarizes a study of the viewpoints of Bible lecturers in the Kindergarten Education Department while teaching content related to the biblical “other.” The study, by two researchers themselves part of the study population, was conducted according to the qualitative approach and included interviews with participants from a State Education and a State-Religious college. The findings highlight the different points of origin vis-à-vis Bible studies and the search for the connection between the “other” of the Bible, the students’ own world and later, that of the children while indicating discrepancies between declared objectives and the characteristics of the students.

In June 2016, a seminar for kindergarten teachers from the Jewish kindergarten system in Pittsburgh was held at The MOFET Institute in collaboration with Classrooms without Borders. During the seminar, the participants experienced a variety of learning settings: visiting and observing Israeli kindergartens as well as other educational institutions serving kindergartens (A House in Nature, Bible House, museums, Ne'ot Kedumim); lectures and workshops on topics such as early childhood education in Israel, early childhood education throughout Jewish history in the Diaspora, Jewish identity in early childhood and the History of the State of Israel and its people. All of the above were accompanied by study-tours around the Land of Israel.

Teaching Jewish holidays in secular kindergartens in Israel is a major part of the early childhood education curriculum and often revolves around myths of heroism. The telling of these stories frequently evokes strong nationalist feelings of identification with fighting as they describe survival wars and conflicts in which the heroes are mostly male fighters and Jewish victory over the enemy is celebrated. Thus the teaching of the holidays hidden agenda strengthens ceremonial, patriarchal and national ideas. This paper proposes a number of educational alternatives in accordance with critical feminist pedagogy and Jewish values of social justice. The article focuses on three major holidays: Hanukah, Purim and Passover. It shows in each one of them the conventional reading of the holiday which is the traditional way it is being taught in secular kindergartens, the holiday through a critical feminist pedagogy lens and application in early childhood classrooms.