This article is a commentary on the seven articles in this special issue of EJTE on teacher quality from international perspectives. In the article, Marilyn Cochran-Smith points to differences as well as common themes and details across the articles in the issue. The article discusses the emergence of teacher quality as a global concern, including…

This study describes higher education-based teacher educators' professional trajectories, i.e. their professional activities and learning as developed throughout their career. Semi-structured interviews were held with 41 teacher educators from Ireland, Israel, Norway and the Netherlands. Findings show that teacher educators were recruited mainly…

In this essay we develop the concept of 'cosmopolitan nationalism', offering a working definition and suggesting ways sociologists of education might draw on it in their future work. We show how it is a useful analytical lens through which to examine contemporary policies and practices that navigate global processes (ranking systems, mobility of…

This article presents a comparative analysis of a metasynthesis of Israeli and US studies on parental choice of two-way bilingual education. My analysis reveals that the reasons majority-language and minority-language parents expressed in the US and Israeli studies converge in some aspects but, significantly, also diverge. I argue that the…

Nations throughout the world continue to examine how to improve their system of education in terms of improving student achievement, so that each student has the opportunity to be a productive and successful member of the global society. For this to occur, each school must be successful in the development of high quality teaching and learning.…

This article discusses strategies used by Arab principals and teachers in Israel to cope with dilemmas involved in education for national identity stemming from conflict between two national narratives. While the Israeli Ministry of Education expects the Arab education system to educate students according to the Jewish State's values, Palestinian…

This article tells a story of K-12 computer science in two different countries. These two countries differ profoundly in culture, language, government and state structure, and in their education systems. Despite these differences, however, they share the pursuit of excellence and high standards in K-12 education. In Israel, curriculum is…

This paper suggests the need for a critical analysis of the nationalization of mourning and its educational implications, especially in conflict-ridden areas. Our thoughts are grounded in a comparative study on mourning that has been conducted as part of our long-standing ethnographic research in schools in Cyprus and Israel during the last 10…

Closing educational gaps between sub-populations in Israel, particularly between students in Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking schools, persists to be one of the priorities of Israel's education system. In the field of information and communication technology (ICT), this goal refers to infrastructure as well as practice, i.e. teaching and…

Worldwide, and especially in South Africa, change and decentralised decision-making have been topical issues in the provision of education for the past years. It appears that teachers--the key agents in implementing the policies concerned--are largely ignored in the pre-implementation phases, and treated merely as implementers of these policies.…

In this article, the authors examine how teachers in four troubled societies--Israel, Cyprus, Northern Ireland and South Africa--understand and implement reconciliation in light of the increasing diversity of these societies. The authors particularly pay attention to a dialogical encounter between reconciliation and inclusion, as they look for…

This paper examines the concepts of educational governance and educational politics, explores issues related to these concepts (with the aid of selected references to the American setting), and describes and analyzes developments in teacher selection for Israeli junior high schools. These developments demonstrate interrelationships between…

Recommends processes for increasing the integration of parents' work with children's education in American urban community schools, based on a summary of observations of parent-school-child interactions in an Israeli kibbutz. (ED)

Compares two indigenous minority groups--the Basques in Spain and the Druze in Israel--and the ways in which they differ in their emphasis on early childhood programs that attempt to retain cultural and linguistic or religious heritages. (BB)

Analyzes four specific attempts at integrated schooling: Blacks and Whites in the United States; Ashkenazim and Sephardic Jews, and Arabs and Jews in Israel; and Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. Maintains that mere interethnic contact is not sufficient to change negative ethnic attitudes. Outlines other necessary conditions and approaches.…