Title: Teachers' beliefs of democratic educational practices: the case of Arab teachers in Israel

Authors: Wajeeh Daher; Essa AlFahel; Abedulkarim Ayyoub

Addresses: An-Najah National University, P.O. Box 7, Nablus, Palestine; Al-Qasemi Academic College of Education, P.O. Box 124, Baqa-El-Gharbia, 30100, Israel ' Achva Academic College of Education, M.P. Shikmim 79800, Israel; Kaye Academic College of Education, Street Yhuda Hlevy 33, P.O. Box 13001, Beer-Sheva 13001, Israel; Al-Qasemi Academic College of Education, P.O. Box 124, Baqa-El-Gharbia, 30100, Israel ' An-Najah National University, P.O. Box 7, Nablus, Palestine

Abstract: It was the aim of the present study to examine teachers' beliefs about democracy in the classroom as a component of the classroom environment. This issue is especially important in the case of teachers who live in a traditional society such as the Arab teachers in Israel. The participants were 498 Arab teachers from the Triangle area in Israel. The research results indicated that the participating teachers' beliefs about democracy in the classroom were 'normal' but not 'good'. Furthermore, the results showed that those teachers' beliefs in democracy have significant relationship with their background variables. It is suggested that a clear educational policy should be developed for confronting failures of the educational system. In addition, those teachers would benefit from participating in democracy workshops that prepare them for more democratic practices in the classrooms.

Keywords: democratic practices; educational practices; democratic education; teachers' beliefs; Israel.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTCS.2018.095914

International Journal of Teaching and Case Studies, 2018 Vol.9 No.4, pp.309 - 322

Received: 17 Aug 2017
Accepted: 07 Mar 2018
Published online: 26 Oct 2018 *

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