Conference Program

In divided societies marked by protracted conflict, structural inequality, and normalized forms of symbolic and relational violence, educational leadership is often required to manage crises while operating within systems shaped by fear, hierarchy, and reactive authority. These challenges are particularly acute in Arab schools in Israel, where school leaders work under conditions of political marginalization, chronic uncertainty, and heightened social tension. In such contexts, educational institutions are frequently pressured to prioritize control, compliance, and rapid response, often at the expense of care, reflection, and shared humanity.

This paper advances the concept of caring literacy as an institutional and pedagogical capacity that enables educational leaders to resist escalation, transform professional language, and re-humanize organizational practices. Caring literacy is understood not as an individual moral trait, but as a set of learnable, collective practices embedded in professional routines, decision-making processes, and leadership discourse. It offers a way to address conflict, fear, and anger without reproducing the very structures of domination and exclusion that sustain violence.

Drawing on a multi-case qualitative study conducted in two Arab localities in Israel, the paper examines the design and implementation of empathetic inquiry as an architecture of critical professional development within municipal leadership forums and school-based professional learning communities. Empathetic inquiry is a structured dialogical methodology that supports leaders in working with emotionally charged professional dilemmas through four recurring stages: creating a holding space, articulating a live dilemma, engaging in multi-perspectival reframing, and generating de-escalatory courses of action. Through this process, emotional experience is not suppressed or privatized, but translated into collective professional judgment.

Methodologically, the study integrates ethnographic observation, longitudinal documentation of leadership discourse, and design-based research. Within this framework, moments of crisis and conflict are treated as opportunities for institutional learning rather than as failures to be managed through coercion. Empathetic inquiry functions as a mediating practice that enables leaders to slow down reactive responses, attend to relational dynamics, and reframe authority as ethical and reflective rather than hierarchical.

The findings highlight three interrelated transformations. First, a shift in professional language from blame, urgency, and moralization toward precision, responsibility, and relational accountability. Second, the emergence of reflective authority, grounded in care and shared meaning-making rather than control. Third, the institutionalization of caring literacy as a mechanism of de-escalation, allowing schools to interrupt cycles of symbolic violence and respond to conflict in ways that sustain dignity and trust.

By conceptualizing care as a form of literacy rather than a personal virtue, this study contributes to broader debates on education in divided societies. It demonstrates how caring literacy can operate as a counter-force to securitized, patriarchal, and media-driven narratives that normalize domination and obscure shared humanity. The paper argues that embedding care within institutional practices offers a viable pathway for educational leadership committed to reducing violence and fostering ethical responsibility under conditions of conflict.

A key question in the philosophy of caring education is how to resist education that obscures our shared humanity and reproduces violent patriarchal cognition. The starting point of caring emphasizes that humanity is one interconnected web, and thus any rupture at one end resonates everywhere. We are inherently involved in dialectical relationships that demand navigating conflicts. Therefore, education rooted in care emphasizes human dignity through critical, reflective learning. It is essential for reconciliation and resistance to structural violence, as a compass’s trajectory.

The intricate paradigm that governs the conflicts in the Middle East, and in this abstract, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, requires a delicate and courageous vision due to the domination of structured violent patriarchy on either side. Reducing hatred and violence while promoting critical thinking is a primary challenge in education. This is especially difficult in the context of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict, in the era of the inflation of AI platforms and social media outlets’ false gaslighting information.

An education grounded in caring as a literacy challenges the perspectives of the patriarchal ruling class and illuminates the hidden agendas that sustain its power. The question is, how to do that? How can we expose the manipulative motivations that endanger lives by instigating violence and wars? How can education overcome the forces that distort learning, particularly in history and religion, to maintain conservative, patriarchal power? Caring literacy embodies emancipatory epistemological resistance to patriarchal domination through critical reflection grounded in the inherent trajectory of lived experiences that share a common humanity.

Hostile patriarchal forces, including those influencing social media and AI, intervene primarily to advance their own interests, complicating efforts to challenge them through widespread gaslighting. Caring literacy seeks to counter these violent barriers, offering hope to children by undermining dominating narratives through lived experiences. In the absence of caring leadership, caring orientation becomes an act of epistemological resistance to structured conservative patriarchy. This abstract, therefore, explores the ways in which caring literacy can resist hatred and violence across learning contexts, whether in PK–12, higher education, or non‑formal educational settings.

The process of deconstructing and reconstructing our knowledge based on ethos and myths is crucial to establishing emotionally attuned and caring learners and citizens. It is comparable to the challenge of learning a new language. It necessitates the nurturing of cognitive habits of perceiving safety and security in terms of human kindness. Caring literacy offers the humanization of the formidable ‘other’ beyond the strict framework that governs our consciousness. Caring literacy enhances our responsibility to the humanity of the formidable ‘other,’ e.g., Palestinians and Jews, in the amalgamation of content learning with the lived experiences of the learners. This approach makes the tight link between the personal and the public and political spheres and vice versa.

It is vital to add that although Jews and Palestinians are often seen as adversaries, there exists a unique shared humanity between them that should be fostered and maintained. Hence, education that emanates from caring literacy, that amalgamates philosophy with lived experiences, is vital.

Israel, a country characterized by deep political, ideological, and normative divisions both across and within communal groups, has long been marked by persistent controversy over the aims of education and the extent to which critical thinking is encouraged within the education system. These debates are inseparable from foundational questions concerning the distinction between political education and ideological indoctrination, and the proper goals of education. More than seventy-five years after its establishment, debates over the right to education and its proper nature in such a complex society remain deeply salient. Against this backdrop, the lecture examines the legitimate limits of teachers’ freedom of expression and their pedagogical responsibility to foster critical thinking, in light of the current legal framework and the need to safeguard relevant values.

Since the outbreak of the war in Israel and the Gaza Strip, a central question has become increasingly acute: how should educators act in such a context, and what obligations and limits should govern their role? Of particular note is the Baruchin case, which addresses teachers’ freedom of expression and their pedagogical commitment to engaging students with current events, including questions related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in general and the war in particular; however, the case was decided on technical grounds by a Regional Labor Court and therefore does not constitute binding precedent. Other incidents that have not reached the courts include cases in which teachers were summoned to internal inquiries for attempting to discuss current events in class and foster critical thinking; cases in which teachers were summoned to hearings due to opinions expressed outside the school, including on social media; and cases in which teachers were effectively barred from employment within the Ministry of Education following short-term arrests – later found to be unlawful – arising from pro-democracy demonstrations conducted outside the workplace. Recent research indicates that many teachers – especially Arab teachers and those holding left-wing views – experience fear regarding the expression of their opinions, leading to self-censorship and undermining their ability to engage students in meaningful discussion of current events. Taken together, these measures give rise to a demonstrable chilling effect.

That effect was intensified by formal political interventions, including a controversial 2024 amendment empowering political officials to dismiss teachers and reduce budgets on the basis of alleged “terrorist” expressions, without adequate procedural safeguards. This amendment is pending before the Supreme Court.

The lecture opens with a critical survey of Israel’s existing legal framework and then proposes reform grounded in educational theories that emphasize the duty to engage students with current events, cultivate critical thinking, and refrain from ideological indoctrination. It also draws on international law, as well as regional and domestic teachers’ ethical codes. The analysis further emphasizes students’ rights – particularly those of K–12 pupils – to a humanistic, values-based education. It proposes a new approach grounded in lessons drawn from the South African Constitution concerning the right to education, and in the application of restorative justice to educational challenges, enabling students to imagine and evaluate alternative futures.

Bullying and peer violence are pervasive phenomena among adolescents, occurring within relatively permanent social groups and often with minimal support for victims. Research indicates that bullying is a complex, multi-level phenomenon influenced by inter- and intra-individual factors. Exposure to violence has both immediate and lifelong effects on physical and mental health and can negatively impact psychological and social well-being.

In Israel, bullying is a significant concern, with both verbal and physical forms being common. Local studies document rising incidences of bullying and a decreasing average age of involved students, mirroring international trends. Teacher-student relationships play a pivotal role in shaping classroom social dynamics. Negative school climates, where beliefs supporting aggression prevail, correlate with increased bullying. Conversely, victimization is less common when teachers are perceived to disapprove of bullying and maintain positive relationships with students. Students’ perceptions of teacher interventions influence their willingness to report bullying, highlighting the importance of teacher practices in mediating classroom violence.

This study adopts a critical sociological perspective to examine how Jewish and Arab teachers in Jerusalem interpret, negotiate, and respond to incidents of student bullying. Teachers’ responses are conceptualized as socially situated practices shaped by institutional norms, power relations, and ethno-national contexts, rather than as merely technical pedagogical decisions. The study asks whether—and how—responses to school violence differ between Jewish and Arab teachers within the same urban educational space. It investigates variations in disciplinary practices, modes of intervention, and the meanings attributed to violent incidents. Special attention is given to teachers’ reliance on formal disciplinary mechanisms, involvement of school authorities, engagement with parents, and use of exclusionary measures such as suspension or expulsion. These practices are analyzed not only as responses to individual incidents but also as reflections of differential positioning within the Israeli education system and its broader socio-political structures.

Focusing on Jerusalem, a city marked by profound ethno-national, political, and symbolic tensions, situates teachers’ responses to bullying within a contested social landscape. Despite growing research on school violence, relatively little attention has been paid to how teachers’ disciplinary practices are embedded in relations of power, minority-majority dynamics, and unequal institutional constraints. This gap is particularly evident in Israel, where education functions not only as a pedagogical arena but also as a site of social regulation and political meaning-making.

The study employs qualitative research design. Data are collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Jewish and Arab high school teachers in Jerusalem. Analysis combines inductive thematic exploration with theory-informed deductive interpretation, allowing identification of recurring patterns in teachers’ narratives and situating them within broader theoretical discussions on discipline, authority, institutional power, and ethno-national relations. Through comparative analysis, the study illuminates how responses to school bullying are shaped not only by professional norms but also by differential access to authority, legitimacy, and institutional support, highlighting the intersection of pedagogy, power, and democracy in a divided urban educational context.

This paper analyzes how Jewish supremacy organizations, such as LEHAVA (Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land), mobilize and instrumentalize marginalized young Jewish men in Jerusalem as agents of nationalist activism. Drawing on the framework of caring literacy, the paper proposes a sociological reading of LEHAVA as an informal educational arena in which gender, nationalism, and demographic anxiety converge.

Operating within Israel’s far-right political landscape, LEHAVA seeks to prevent romantic relationships between Jewish women and Palestinian men, framing such relationships as existential threats to Jewish continuity and sovereignty. While commonly understood as a political extremist organization, this study conceptualizes LEHAVA as a site of gendered socialization that transforms socio-economic marginality into nationalist masculinity.

Through qualitative analysis of public discourse, media representations, organizational materials, and secondary scholarly literature, the paper explores how adolescents and young adults internalize and reproduce ethnonational narratives during critical stages of identity formation. In this process, vulnerability, precarity, and experiences of social exclusion are reframed as moral missions centered on protection, honor, and collective survival.

Within LEHAVA’s ideological framework, Jewish women, particularly from marginalized backgrounds, are symbolically constructed as bearers of demographic and cultural continuity. Simultaneously, Palestinian men are portrayed as demographic and moral threats, thereby reinforcing a binary logic of protection and danger. The regulation of female sexuality becomes central to nationalist masculinity, positioning young men as guardians of communal boundaries.

The paper argues that this mobilization functions as a form of informal pedagogy. Through protests, campaigns, digital media, and public performances, young men are socialized into a model of militant and protective masculinity grounded in notions of “family honor,” demographic anxiety, and religious-national redemption. Masculinity and nationalism thus become mutually reinforcing categories through which belonging, pride, and self-worth are constructed.

Importantly, the paper situates this process within broader tensions surrounding Jewish identity in contemporary Israel, particularly among marginalized youth seeking recognition and collective dignity in contexts marked by socio-economic inequality and cultural dislocation. LEHAVA’s appeal, therefore, cannot be understood solely in ideological terms but must also be examined as a response to unmet needs for affiliation, meaning, and esteem.

The paper concludes by asking how such movements can be critically addressed without reproducing the very dynamics of exclusion they mobilize. Drawing again on caring literacy, it suggests that alternative models of masculinity rooted in relational responsibility, empathy, and inclusive belonging—cultivated from early childhood—may offer a democratic counter-framework to nationalist extremism. By reframing masculine strength within the training of street counselors and youth workers—shifting emphasis from control and patriarchal protectionism toward care-based relational engagement—this approach opens new possibilities for rethinking masculinity, identity formation, and social cohesion in divided societies.

In the current so‑called “post‑truth” era, a significant gap has emerged between universal liberal values and personal‑communal identities, particularly within traditional and minority societies such as Arab society in Israel. This dissonance often leads to the alienation of students from democratic civic education, which is frequently perceived as an external imposition that threatens cultural and religious roots (Youniss, 2011). Drawing on my doctoral research regarding the concept of truth and my professional work at the Israel Democracy Institute, this paper proposes a transformative pedagogical model that treats religious texts as a source of inspiration rather than a source of authority.

The core of this proposal is the development of a “critical caring literacy”. Unlike traditional religious education that emphasizes dogmatic obedience, this approach treats religious texts as ethical and philosophical landscapes. By critically engaging with scriptures that advocate for human dignity, justice, and peace, learners can discover that universal values are deeply embedded within their own heritage. This aligns with the classical philosophical tradition of Al‑Farabi (1964), who viewed the pursuit of truth as the ultimate path to human happiness, and with contemporary efforts to balance the communitarian, civic, and liberal aims of Islamic education (Saada, 2022).

This model is currently being implemented through my field‑based initiatives among young people in Arab society in Israel within non‑formal educational frameworks. The goal is to cultivate democratic civic competence that fosters partnership with Jewish society based on shared universal foundations. However, this pedagogy does not ignore the asymmetrical power relations and the structural complexities inherent in the Jewish‑Palestinian conflict (Shel Aboody & Paul‑Binyamin, 2025). Rather, it employs an ethnographic‑philosophical approach (“ethnophilosophy”) to bridge lived experience with philosophical analysis, allowing students to navigate their identity while resisting violent or exclusionary narratives.

By reclaiming religious narratives to support equality and liberty, we foster a critical religious education that allows for reflection within the faith tradition (Saada & Magadlah, 2021). This facilitates Buber’s (1970) transition from “I‑It” to “I‑Thou,” where the “Other” is no longer an adversary of values but a partner in a shared moral quest. Ultimately, this approach offers a compass for divided societies, promoting a shared humanity that honors particularity while upholding the inviolable dignity of all individuals (hooks, 2003).