On the week of 24th of January 2023, the Learning Planet Alliance celebrated Education Day where organizations came together and presented different informative topics that celebrated education in their own way. The themes ranged from education and youth leaning, the environment and green learning to human rights concerns and accessibility.
Broken Chalk has chosen a few events to attend, and report on some important themes that are necessary to in today’s society and dialogue. This month, we wanted to bring back the spirit of learning and education. This series celebrates relevant themes that Broken Chalk deem valuable and essential to discuss.
The best way to start off is with the event held by Salzburg Global Seminar. This event was titled: The power of peer learning and exchange. It relays the significance of organizations and individuals learning from each other, the event was organized in an anecdotal way where each participant discussed their experience networking as an educational policymaker.
Education Policymakers Network: The power of peer learning and exchange
Source: Salzburg Global Seminar
Salzburg Global Seminar, supported by the LEGO Foundation, has developed a network for policymakers, appropriately named Education Policymakers Network. The event was primarily instigated by the necessity of networking in today’s economy and environment. The idea was to bring together policymakers to understand the influence of our environment and communal policy in schools and education.
The Network’s primary target is school children aged 3-12, the aim is to understand their cognitive and behavioral needs and how best to provide for them in the school system. The network meets every 6 weeks to discuses their agenda. There are between 30 to 35 policymakers that exchange their views on the existing discourse in education. The event was anecdotal as three policymakers shared their experiences being part of the Network.
Starting in Brazil, Renan Ferreirinha , the Secretary of education of Rio de Janeiro introduced himself and his work. He is part of the largest public education department in charge of 700 thousand students and 50 thousand teaching professionals. He stated that Brazil had worked and succeeded to enhance the accessibility of education however, the main issue of quality persists. Quality will be a constant aspect of education that requires work and dedication to improve.
Ferreirinha adds that the 2020 pandemic detrimentally affected the access of education and the mental heath of students. Which is why they have been working with UNICEF for the upcoming school year to better the facilities given to students. The work with UNICEF includes discussions and studies with an emphasis on tutoring as it focusses on school students of all ages who struggle with education.
When asked about his thoughts about the Network, he described his enthusiasm for the opportunity to exchange ideas, and develop leadership and social skills. Two skills which continue to develop as being part of the network. Moreover, one perk of this network is that peer to peer exchange allows the flow of cross border ideas which helped him understand the need for practical ideas in solving issues related to the social decline in Rio.
Moving to Emis Njeru from Kenya who expressed great appreciation for the Network. In her words, it prioritizes empowering policymakers. She sees that the main goal of the network is to learn from peer to peer exchange. The platform facilitates global learning for each of the policymakers. She pointed that being part of the Network broadened her implementation knowledge of educational policies and included reviewing, group working and sector planning.
Civil Society Organizations in Kenya are nowadays also flaunting a community of practice as cross border learning is implemented. This means that the ability to provide education in harsh conditions and community building are now becoming a pillar for CSOs, something that was only possible because of peer to peer exchange. Innovation is also necessary as Information Technology is being introduced as part of teaching. The use of IT and electronic caravans ensures the provision and continuity of education in Kenya.
Njeru also touches on the aspect of breadth of skills and critical thinking, as well as social and emotional learning. Those are some skills which encouraged her to be a part of a life long learning network in Kenya and to promulgate the exchange of ideas and hold conferences. She is also participating in other networks that discuss accessibility of education for the disabled, as well as the Consortium of Research network in Kenya which can carry out research to improve evidence based policies in Kenya.
Lastly, in Scotland, Ollie Bray is the strategic director of Education Scotland. He works mainly around curriculum and school improvement. His responsibility is to mobilize teams to work on curriculum reform and leadership, and to focus on national development programs.
Bray elaborates that the career and education he has, had always been part of a network and that is where he learns practical skills the most. He was always looking for a network to join in Scotland. During his educational career, he observed that it was difficult to find local networks thus, joining an international one was the best course he could take. He valued the ability to look outwards in different communities and countries. Then taking good and practical ideas that were unbiased in practice and create a local recipe for Scotland.
Bray, much like Ferreirinha and Njeu, maintained the importance of revisiting social and emotional skills. He added that creative skills and studying how other leaders practice and solve the problems is part of the peer to peer exchange learning process. Bray mentioned quite an interesting point as well, and that is learning from others essentially builds the confidence to be creative in solving local issues.
He then goes on to say that Scotland has a good relationship with Wales and that they meet regularly in order to share ideas on the curriculum and to enhance their team skills during inspection times. One of the main strengths of this network is its even distribution in its global aspect that brings different ideas to the table, he added.
It is such a pleasure to see that our community continues to expand beyond our borders to produce a network that aims in closing the educational gaps we have in our modern society. These efforts show that education remains an essential component to human development.
Education system faces multiple challenges over chronic shortage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM fields) graduates.
While there is an increase in the coverage of Roma children in primary and secondary education, a drop in preschool and university education is apparent.
Quality of Roma education remains of great concern
Roma registered with the National Employment Bureau, 96% have the lowest level of education and less than 1% are educated to secondary level. This limits the range of employment opportunities.
Little improvement post-COVID to advance reforms on quality of education
Quality and relevance of education system, including lack of practical experience of graduates from vocational and higher education, remain key challenges
Occupational mismatch is high in tertiary education graduates
Montenegro must adopt a costed plan for wide ranging education reforms including inclusive education and improving access to quality education at all education levels
Implement the new strategy on early and preschool education 2021-2025 to improve preschool enrolment for all children
Finalize then initiate the national vocational education and training (VET) implementation plan 2022-2023 of the VET strategy 2020-2024, as well as putting in place the evaluation mechanism of practical learning at VET and higher education levels.
Preschool enrolment rate stood at 48.71% in 2020-2021, still well below the EU 95% target
Effected by the COVID-context
Number of children with disabilities in both preschool and primary education increased by 21% and 7%.
Government approved in December 2021 the strategy for digitalization for education (2022-2027), which is fully aligned with the EU digital education action plan
Montenegro still does not have a qualitative, budgeted, multi-annual education strategy and plan for sustainable reforms.
Free transport was provided for 600 primary school students
Montenegro must align more with the Poznan Declaration on Roma integration in order to fully implement the strategy for inclusive education 2019-2025.
New strategy on early and preschool education was adopted in Q4 2021 and its implementation started including support to all preschool institutions for conducting campaign on enrolment, capacity building of staff to implement the parenting program, a workshop on partnerships with Roma and Egyptian families.
Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports revised strategy for higher education to cover the period 2022-2026 and draft a new law on higher education. However, their adoption is pending and tangible results are not yet in place
Developing a structured monitoring and evaluation of practical education in higher education programs remains to be an area that requires specific attention.
Interview with Marcel Voorhoeve and the qualification for refugee teachers to teach in the Netherlands.
After spending most of his life as a teacher of mathematics and physics and deputy headmaster of a secondary school, Marcel Voorhoeve founded the organization DVDK (Docentvluchteling voor de Klas) or “Teacher refugee for the Classroom”.
In collaboration with the Dutch Association of Mathematics Teacher and VluchtelingenWerk Nederland (the Dutch Council for Refugees), the volunteers of DVDK are working to ensure that refugee teachers are able to carry out their profession also in the Netherlands.
On the occasion of the Education Day 2023, Broken Chalk decided to talk with Marcel Voorhoeve about his experience, the creation of DVDK and the suggestions he would give to others who might want to get involved in the promotion of the “teaching of refugee teachers”.
Can you tell me about your background?
“I was born in the South, in Maastricht, my age is 67 at this moment, I have been studying in the Utrecht University mathematics and physics. It was a five years study and after that it was possible to get the license in order to be a teacher. Then I started to look for a job in education, which was not quite easy at that time… Finally I got one in Utrecht, I became a teacher at a Roman Catholic school and I started teaching physics”.
After that, Marcel became a math teacher and in the middle of the 1980s, with the development of computers, he also started to give informatic classes. According to him, it was a quite interesting time for the educational system, as new ideas about how to teach mathematics were emerging.
“At Utrecht university the department was developing new ideas about mathematics education. For several projects our school was an “experimental school” and it was very interesting also for me because it allowed me to develop as a good teacher”.
“In a lot of countries mathematics is something you have to learn and to do, but doing is the most important thing… This approach doesn’t help very much in developing your own thinking, which is only possible when you have time to try things by yourself, obviously with the help of a good teacher.”
After being a teacher for the majority of his life, the last 15 years of his career Marcel was a member of the board of the school. Finally, the last four years before stopping to work, he was teaching at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam at the teacher training department. He found himself back teaching mathematical subjects, in particular statistics, and the didactics of mathematics to young students who wanted to become math teachers.
How did you come up with the idea of DVDK?
“I stopped working three years ago, around the beginning of Corona time, but I liked my work very much. My partner and I started to travel for a moment…. In the month of January, after Christmas, I was thinking about what I could be doing. Waiting for the next trip was not satisfying to me”.
One day, Marcel decided to go to Plan Einstein, a place developed by the municipality of Utrecht and VluchtelingenWerk Nederland, an organization which is helping refugees for the reception and integration in the city. By talking with an employee, Marcel was introduced to a Turkish refugee who was a math teacher in his country and really wanted to be teaching again. The only problem was that he knew nothing about the Dutch language and about mathematics teaching and the school system in Holland.
“We became friends, I helped him with language, to understand the educational system. Then he told me that he was a member of a Whatsapp group of about 100 math teachers from Turkey that fled from their country because they had a problem with the political developments in Turkey and they had no possibility anymore to be teaching there.”
At the same time, Marcel explained, Holland is affected by a highly problematic shortage of math teachers.
This creates a paradoxical situation: in a country with fewer and fewer teachers, there are competent refugee teachers who may be able to help the host community and at the same time exercise the profession they love and have chosen.
The idea of DVDK came from this paradox. With the help of the Foundation of Maths Teachers in Holland and the organization VluchtelingenWerk Nederland, Marcel started a project with the aim of helping teachers from abroad become teachers in the Netherlands.
“In theory all those refugees from Turkey are allowed to teach in our schools as they have a license compatible with the Dutch education system. However, of course the language is problematic, also the Dutch educational system and even the way mathematics is taught in Holland differs enormously from Turkey, Iran or Syria… We heard a lot from these math teachers, who were not happy with the existing projects at other universities, and we thought that we could think about a good idea to make it better.”
“We made a plan, that we sent it to the ministry of education, about a good structured way of helping refugees from abroad starting at the moment they arrive in Holland, helping them to value their certifications and licenses in Holland, and preparing them to become a teacher in a fast and enduring way.”
In February 2022, a group of 15 teachers, 13 math teachers and two IT teachers started a course at University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht, based on the ideas of DVDK.
(Picture: Two IT teachers are instructed by their teacher in didactics of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
How does DVDK work practically?
According to DVDK trainings about the language, didactics and the school system in Holland are only one part of what DVDK is doing, called “Period Two”.
In fact, he stressed how these refugees coming to the Netherlands have an urgent need for a phase that must precede this type of training.
“These refugees when they come to Holland should know the language before they can start this Period Two. We want to start immediately after they have their status or sometimes even before they are getting the status. In the asylum centers they are not allowed to do a course or to practice the Dutch language… This is terrible and demotivating. Of course there are of course and actions volunteers organize but at this moment no structured help for asylum teachers. A fast start will help these refugee teachers to make a motivating beginning with investigating and developing things for their new future.”
“Our idea, and we call it Period One, is that when a teacher from abroad is coming to Holland, it is necessary to offer something to this person. We think that it is very important to do it from the beginning because this gives the possibility that refugees can be motivated to do good things for their own lives.”
(Picture: In June 2022 the team of Hogeschool Utrecht and members of the projectgroup DVDK (Docentvluchteling voor de Klas) congratulated the participants with their first part of the course)
In addition, according to Marcel, it is also necessary to provide an orientation about what education in Holland concretely means, because refugees may have little or no idea of what it means to be a teacher in the Netherlands.
“We also think that it is really important to begin practicing the language a little bit. We developed a kind of website where we offer Dutch lessons. In addition, the tasks, exercises and content in these lessons are profession orientated, so the context and tasks are linked to the profession of the teacher. This design highly motivates the refugees. A lot of teachers are really teachers by heart and giving them the possibility to attend these lessons is also a way of saying to them that they are welcome in our country and math community and that we want to help them.”
In this sense DVDK is the only organization of the country having developed ideas and materials in this first period.
Finally, Marcel told me about the Third Period of the training. This final part has to be put into practice when math teachers start to have their first job as a lot of coaching is still needed.
“Even when the language is quite ok, and even when the didactics is fine, the teacher will have to develop him or herself in the new school context and needs a lot of help. In particular for the language, for instance when feedback on writing emails or letters to parents or on designing a good task or test for students…”
If you had to give advice to other people in the field of education, which are the main difficulties that need to be overcome and how to do it?
“Several things… First of all, the participants should spend a lot of time, which is possible when you truly believe in the idea and when you have a group of persons and organizations who also believe in the idea. It is also important to have good cooperation. I can say that with the people that are now involved in the project, we actually became some kind of friends. This also helps to deal with the ups and downs which a project always meets.
Secondly, DVDK investigated whether the structure of the project is also applicable for other subjects. We discovered that also teachers of physics, chemistry, technics and informatics because of the lack of teachers also need creative ideas to recruit new teachers. They intend to connect and this means that DVDK will expand and really contribute to providing an increasing number of good teachers. This is an example of our policy: involve as much as organizations and participants with the goal to make as much expertise available as possible. And, thirdly, there is a lot of expertise and ‘power of people’ available. Expertise in language didactics (CLIL), in math didactics especially for teachers, in coaching of teachers from abroad, etc. DVDK is happy with the contribution of universities and especially the Hogeschool Utrecht who educated our first group. And now we are waiting for our Ministry of Education. Our efforts resulted in the commitment of our new minister to a structured approach and the financial needs. Our voluntary work will go on!”
(Picture: Group of 15 teacher-asylants who started a course at Hogeschool Utrecht in February 2022)
An interview with an inspiring young man from Turkey about his involvement in the education field.
We are in a cultural centre in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Mustafa Simsekler is surrounded by around twenty children aged between three and ten years old and their parents. In just an hour, as part of its educational robotics workshops, his goal is teaching them how to build the “fastest car model”.
In the middle of a set of batteries, motors and coloured cards, one can clearly perceive the smiles of these children and their parents, who almost seem to be having as much fun as their children.
Little Engineers Academy
His organization is called “Little Engineers Academy”. It consists of a series of robotics workshops during which children can develop not only their hand and production skills, but in particular their ability to be real problem solvers.
I have talked with Mustafa to know more about his story and the functioning of his organization.
Can you talk to me about your background?
“I studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering in Italy and I did another bachelor’s degree in law in Turkey. I also did a masters in Robotics and children brain development.
Then I worked for Boeing aircraft company in the United States, in three different places: Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle. Then I worked in Chile and my last job was in France. I was working for NATO doing research. Then I came back to Turkey where I also worked for the Turkish Air force.”
And then what happened?
In 2016, they fired me because we were not doing what the government was asking and I was against the Turkish Syrian possible war, the government did not like it. So, I lost my job. The government started to paint us as terrorists, my brothers went to prison, they all lost their jobs and one of them was banned from university…My father couldn’t handle it and he died. It was hard for us and at that time there was this pressure from the government… It was at that moment that I founded this company, “Little Engineers Academy”, 7 years ago.
With my colleagues we tracked the academic work that was available on brain development of children and this company became so famous in Turkey. We are basing our trainings on “the game”. In fact, also the children have a job and their job is solving a game. In these workshops we only suggest to children games without laptops, phones or any kind of screen because they are very harmful in early childhood.
Little Engineers Academy
Why did you have to flee Turkey?
I founded this company in Turkey, where it became so famous that we had almost 20 workers. However, after a while the Turkish government asked for consultancy from us, they gave me a 6 years judgment, they were considering me as a terrorist.
So, one day I decided to flee, I started to swim from Turkey at 12 and I was in Greece at 6.
Then I went to Italy, because I had some ID card from my study period, and finally I came to the Netherlands, in 2021, it’s almost 15 months since I have been here.
I came here as a refugee and I was in a camp, and at that time it seemed to me so awkward to just spend my time sleeping in a bed so I started giving lessons to children in the camp. I began to do some voluntary jobs and at the time I also had a contact with Utrecht’s mayor Ms. Sharon Dijksma who really helped me find some subsidies. I started giving lessons all around the Netherlands and I am currently giving classes in 14 different places in the country. Even if other high-tech companies offered me higher salaries, I am really happy with my job, I want to do something with children so that’s why I chose this way. It was also a way to say thank you to this country.
How does your workshop work?
So, in general, all the robotic companies are using ready materials and solving ready programs and they are all dependent on screens which are really harmful for children at an early age.
Our aim is to give children only the motor and batteries, as all the other materials come from nature and can be found everywhere. For example, we are making some robots from the roots, stones, chestnuts…Children can do robotics from everything, they don’t need extra materials. And we are also doing something that they are really going to use in their homes, airplanes, bedroom lamps…
Right now, we trained 1000 children in the Netherlands and more than 6000 children in the world. This education program is working in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in the Netherlands and Turkey.
Our objective is to teach them how to solve problems, not about coding or programming. People think about coding or programming as a goal, but it’s not the goal, it is brain development, helping them develop the ability to solve problems. This is because we don’t know in the future which issues and technologies, they are going to face but we know that they will have problems in their life…If you are a good problems solver in your life, in every occasion, when they you are stressed or criticized by others, you will have the ability to make the right decisions.
In 2018, negotiations regarding Turkey’s accession the European Union (EU) came to a standstill as no further chapters could have been discussed for the foreseeable future. However, both parties maintained an amicable relationship, working toward a future where they could collaborate on common interests. In March of 2021, the European Commission expressed its readiness to cooperate with Turkey on joint areas such as counterterrorism, food security, migration trade and energy. To date, Turkey remains a key partner of the EU in its facilitated dialogue between Russia and Ukraine in the agreement on the export of grains. However, tension in the Eastern Mediterranean remains high with the EU urging Turkey to encourage stability within the region.
This summary discusses the 2022 EU Enlargement policy report as communicated by the European Commission in its 2022 Enlargement package. The report tackles multiple areas in which the EU has expressed concern such as fundamental freedoms and democracy in Turkey. The summary will also relay the report’s findings when it comes to education, culture and employment policies. All of which reflect on Turkey’s accession to the EU.
Fundamental Rights
Freedom of expression and association
Of the most crucial rights that spark controversy in Turkey, freedom of expression has been under scrutiny by the government of Turkey which did not go unnoticed. The 2022 Turkey report states that currently Turkey is in the early stages of taking a European-based human right approach when it comes to the dissemination of opposition voices and freedom of expression. Many instances regarding criminal cases and convictions of journalists, students, lawyers and human rights defenders continue in the country.
For instance, the legislative environment regarding the internet, anti-terrorism and the Criminal Code limit the exercise of freedom of expression. There have been reports of selective and arbitrary application of legislation raise concerns regarding the rule of law and the right to a fair trial. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers strongly urged the Turkish authorities to consider changes to the Criminal Code as many cases related to freedom of expression have been lodged to the European Court of Human Rights.
As for freedom of assembly and association, the report states that there had been some serious backsliding by the Turkish government as implementation and legislation are not in line with the Turkish constitution, European standards or the international conventions which Turkey is party to. Many human rights defenders have been detained or arrested due to their exercise of their freedom of association. This included prominent non-governmental organisations such as Human Rights Association which were subjected to police raids.
Women’s and Children’s rights
It had been evident that the regression concerning the right of women and girls in Turkey has had tangible effects in the country. The presidential decision to withdraw from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence had been met with serious backlash from the public. Turkey is in the process of implementing The Fourth National Action Plan for Combating Violence against Women (2021-2025) yet, there had been 339 killing of women in 2021 alone. Turkey lacks a robust system for data collection to assess the nature of this issue. There are numerous concerns regarding women’s right as hate speech increased against independent women organizations and women’s participation in politics and decision making is low. On the other hand, some penalties were increased for violence against women who are or were the spouse of the perpetrator in July 2021.
In the area of the rights of the child, Turkey needs to improve its juvenile justice system. There has been reports of continuous juvenile arrests on charges of membership to terrorist organizations and often, detained in non-juvenile institutions. Turkey had shown limited progress in tackling and reducing core issues related to child marriages and gender-based violence against children. Additionally, the effects of COVID-19 have been tangible when it came to the decreased education of the Roma children.
Rights of persons with disabilities
Turkey has started its National Action Plan on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which will be its implementation tool for its 2030 Barrier Free Vision Document. Turkey needs an independent implementation and monitoring framework as required by the UN Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This is also true for mental health and Turkey does not have a concrete foundation for mental health monitoring and implementation in the country. Moreover, community-based care services, including foster care and adoption, need to be expanded for minors with disabilities who are in need of state protection.
Education and culture
In Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Turkey, the net enrolment rate (NER) for preschool education largely decreased from 71.22 % in 2019-2020 to 56.89 % in 2020-2021 and the combined NER for Turkish children between 3 and 5 years old decreased from 41.78 % to 28.35 %. It is important to note that as the country’s efforts to improve accessibility to persons with disabilities, the number of students in special education increased from 425 774 in 2020 to 425 816 in 2021. For persons with special needs, Turkey continued to invest towards inclusive education instead of segregated settings, yet the school closures due to COVID-19 have affected the access of such students to education. It is worth to note that Turkey is in an advanced stage in implementing the Bologna measures despite the disparity in quality of education between Turkey’s 207 higher education institutions.
In 2022, Turkey had declared the year as the Year of Youth Participation. Turkey also participates in the European Year of the Youth. Turkish youth organisations showed high levels of interest in the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes, which continue to be major sources of funding for international youth exchange activities in Turkey.
In the post-pandemic era, Turkey’s cultural sector suffered from inadequate and unsustainable funding. Non-governmental cultural actors were hindered by the insufficient cultural infrastructure, lack of professionalism and limited management capacities. Also, the number of books obtaining the warning “harmful for minors/ +18” has increased. Six publications were declared “obscene” in 2021. The books were focused on gender-based rights, gender identity or included LGBTQI characters, and such measures pose a threat to freedom of publication.
Social policy and employment
The labour market situation in Turkey has slightly improved. The employment rate (15+) increased to 45.2 % in 2021 from 42.7 % in 2020. The rate increased for men to 62.8 % from 59.4 %, for women to 28 % from 26.2 %. Unemployment rate (15+) decreased from 13.1 % to 12 % in 2021. The unemployment rate for women remained almost at the same level with 14.7 %. The youth unemployment rate (15-24) decreased from 24.9 % in 2020 to 22.6 % in 2021. The rate of young people neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) aged 15-24 decreased from 28.4 % in 2020 to 24.7 % in 2021; however for women, the rate is still quite high at 32.4 %. Turkey adopted its first National Youth Employment Strategy and Action Plan (2021-2023) in October 2021.
In the area of social inclusion and social protection, Turkey still requires a policy framework for poverty reduction. The accelerating inflation levels pose risks for vulnerable segments of the population. It is worth to note that social assistance payments amounted to TRY 97.8 billion or 1.74% of the GDP. Furthermore, Turkey needs a solid strategy and action plan for non-discrimination in employment and social policy. Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity is not prohibited by law. The role of Human Rights and Equality Institution (HREI) and the Ombudsman remained limited in combating discrimination in employment. Employment of persons with disabilities in the private sector is reported to be challenging, partly due to limited physical accessibility, prejudices and skills mismatch. Efforts are needed to prevent discrimination for LGBTIQ in employment and social policy.
In employment and social policy, the gender gap in the labour market has remained high. Legislation needs to be improved for a better work-life balance. To achieve this, half-time work allowances were paid to 4,841 beneficiaries in 2021. The employment rate for women (18-64 age group) in case there are children in the household remained below the EU average. Women’s employment is hindered due to insufficient access to quality and affordable formal care services and the gender bias in caring responsibilities and discriminatory stereotypes. Some programmes supporting employment of mothers with children were terminated by the end of 2021.
In conclusion, Turkey lacks concrete implementation of polices regarding its fundamental rights such the freedom of speech and association. The situation concerning social policy, discrimination and the juvenile justice system need to have proper monitoring framework. There was some progress in terms early education and youth participation in the EU programmes. Still, Turkey needs to align its goals with its intent to accede the European Union.
Human rights are fundamental parts of our social and governance systems. These universal rights are inherent to every individual regardless of nationality, ethnicity, race or sex[1]. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), every individual has the right to life, liberty and security (Article 3), shall not be subject to torture (Article 5) or arbitrary arrest and detention (Article 9)[2]. In addition, Article 13 and 14 of the UDHR lay down that people have the right to leave any country, including their own to seek asylum in other countries due to fear of persecution in their home country[3]. However, despite all the international norms and legal frameworks in place today, the abovementioned rights of many individuals are violated when they seek refuge in foreign countries. In particular, a recent study found that hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers are being pushed back at the borders of the European Union when they try to escape their home countries in the hope of a better life[4].
The refugee crisis in Europe started in 2015 when a huge influx of third-country nationals arrived at the borders of the European Union. According to the statistics of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than five million refugees arrived at the borders of the Union by 2016[5]. Although the biggest wave of the crisis is over, still many refugees arrive to Europe nowadays as there were over half a million asylum applications submitted to the European Union in 2021[6].
However, tens of thousands of refugees are pushed back at the borders to prevent them from entering the European Union[7]. For instance, it has been reported that Spain deports unaccompanied minors to Morocco which puts the vulnerable refugee children at risk of exploitation and violates their human rights[8]. Another example is the case of Syrian refugees who wanted to enter Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina but were pushed back by the Croatian police officers, were beaten and unlawfully detained[9]. Additional countries that were found to be unlawfully denying entry for refugees and pushing them back at the borders with the use of force and violence include Greece, Hungary, Italy and Malta. In addition, Bulgaria is also one of the countries that unfairly pushes back refugees without any assessment of individual cases. This is illustrated by the case of a Turkish journalist who fled Turkey because he was suspected to be part of the Gülen movement which is perceived as a terrorist organization, he was fired from his workplace and feared further reprisals[10]. When arriving at the borders, Bulgarian officers failed to assess his case, disregarded his fear of persecution and return in Turkey, and forced him to sign documents he did not understand[11]. In less than 24 hours after his arrival he was handcuffed and handed over to the Turkish authorities, was held in detention and later sentenced to seven years of prison for his alleged support of the Gülen movement[12].
This case perfectly demostrates the core idea of the Refugee Convention of 1951 that was signed by all the member states of the European Union and that lays down that refugees must not be returned to a country where they face threats to their life and human rights. This is the principle of non-refoulement which is an essential component of refugees’ and asylum seekers’ protection and is part of customary international law, which means that it also applies to states that have not ratified the Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. The original Convention had a limited geographical and time scope as it was only applicable to refugees of World War II, but its additional Protocol of 1967 removed this restriction and this extention of the treaty was also ratified by all EU states. In this sense, countries that unlawfully push back refugees, deny their entry and reject their asylum application without assessment not only violate their human right to life, security, movement and not being subject to torture, arbitrary arrest and detention as laid down in the UDHR, but also breach international law and norms since many of these refugees fled their country due to fear of persecution.
What even further exacerbates the problem is the fact that often times the European Union itself is indirectly funding these pushbacks, thereby supporting human right violations and going against the Union’s core values. The pushbacks were found to often be carried out with the help of Europe’s border agency Frontex which uses the Union’s financial resources. The European Ombusdman found that the European Commission has been providing funding for border control since 2018 but only established an independent monitoring mechanism to safeguard human rights at the borders in the middle of 2021[13]. The Ombudsman ruled that while the Commission lacks the authority to investigate the protection of human rights at border activities, it has the authority as well as the obligation to ensure that the Union’s funds are spent in compliance with EU law and human rights law[14]. Therefore it is the Commission’s responsibility to make sure that funds are not allocated to activities that are not in line with the European Union’s values and international law, such as the unlawful pushback of refugees. Furthermore, according to Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Commission can initiate so-called infringement prodecures which are legal procedures to ensure that member states are complying with EU law[15]. This means that the European Commission can fulfil its obligation of overseeing the protection of human rights inside member states by establishing and funding monitoring bodies and in case of a breach it can initiate such an infringement prodecude and bring the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union. In addition, the Commission can also introduce conditionality between human rights protection and funding, which means that it can establish a system to make funds conditional and withhold funds from member states that do not comply with EU laws and values[16].
In conclusion, fundamental human rights are violated at the borders of Europe and the EU as refugees and asylum seekers are often pushed back and experience violence. Refugees are threatened, assaulted, abused and detained, left to die on their boats or thrown into the sea, which results in thousands of tragic deaths that could have been easily prevented[17]. This violates their human rights, namely the right to life, security and movement, as well as the right to be free from torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, which poses a severe threat to these innocent people’s physical well-being. Lastly, the European Commission is not only ignoring but also funding these human right violations which contradicts the values of the Union. Refugees are inherently a highly vulnerable group and have less access to national courts to enforce their rights and make their voice heard. Therefore it is the responsibility of the EU and its member states to ensure that refugees’ fundamental rights, and it is the European Commission’s obligation to make sure that the funds allocated to member states for border control and asylum application procedures are spent in compliance with the Union’s values as well as international law and norms.
European Ombudsman. (2022). Decision concerning how the European Commission monitors and ensures respect for fundamental rights by the Croatian authorities in the context of border management operations supported by EU funds (case 1598/2020/VS). https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/decision/en/152811
Rijpma, J., & Fotiadis, A. (2022). Addressing the Violation of Fundamental Rights at the External Borders of the European Union. https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/article/study/addressing-the-violation-of-fundamental-rights-at-the-external-borders-of-the-european-union. The Greens/European Free Alliance.
[13] European Ombudsman. (2022). Decision concerning how the European Commission monitors and ensures respect for fundamental rights by the Croatian authorities in the context of border management operations supported by EU funds (case 1598/2020/VS)
According to the 2022 European Commission Enlargement Package in relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, no progress was made in adopting countrywide human rights and anti-discrimination strategies. The 2009 law on the prohibition of discrimination is still not applied effectively in Bosnia Herzegovina. In addition, disputes over education continue and systemic solutions for ensuring inclusive and non-discriminatory education are not yet in place. In particular, the common core curriculum is not completed or applied throughout the country, and the availability of teaching in the national groups of subjects remains limited. Furthermore, no progress was made in eliminating the practice of ‘two schools under one roof’ and the name of the Bosnian language is not recognised in schools in the Republika Srpska entity, leading to recurrent school boycotts. Finally, persons with disabilities remain among the most vulnerable groups and continue to face hurdles to access education, healthcare and social assistance. The report underlines how the issue of accessibility to public buildings needs to be addressed in a systematic manner.
Education as a service for refugees and migrants
Some progress has been made in providing essential services to refugees and migrants, in cooperation with humanitarian partners. However, the actions in practice are still limited. A 2021 national report underlines for instance how only the Una-Sana and Sarajevo cantonal authorities provide access to legal guardianship and facilitate access to education for unaccompanied children.
Education in relation to the labour market
The European Commission states that one of the reasons of the persistence of high unemployment in the country is a mismatch of education curricula with the labour market needs. In order to support long-term growth, Bosnia and Herzegovina should in particular improve the quality of education and training, in particular by accelerating the modernisation of curricula with a view to better alignment with labour market needs.
Education and innovation section
Investment in education remains inadequate, highly fragmented and poorly coordinated, leading to varied standards within the country.
According to the European Commission, public spending on education accounted for some 4% of GDP in 2020. When adding private spending and support by foreign donors, the overall amount stands at nearly 5% of GDP. Despite this significant spending, in particular when taking into account the number of students, it is underlined that the system fails to provide the country’s labour force with the skills and knowledge necessary for a smooth integration in the labour market. Furthermore, the insufficient coordination leads to a lack of common standards for various levels of education, as well as in differences in the quality of teachers’ training and performance evaluation.
In addition, teaching curricula continue to be outdated and are still not sufficiently aligned with the country’s needs. The results of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s participation to the 2018 PISA study indicate that the students’ performance ranks well below the OECD average, which is a clear impediment for the country’s competitiveness and growth potential. Unfortunately, Bosnia and Herzegovina refrained from participating in the follow-up study.
Furthermore, spending on research and innovation is limited and impeded by the low degree of cooperation and coordination among the various levels of government, leading to a low efficiency of the overall system.
Finally, the absence of an efficient funding system is another factor preventing the country’s innovation policy from achieving better results for the funds spent. The country’s research capacities remain limited, while brain drain continues, most notably in the health, medical, and IT sectors with no systematic measures having been introduced so far to address the issue.
Equal treatment men and women
The principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and social policy is regulated by the laws on gender equality and antidiscrimination, and by the entity-level labour laws. These laws contain provisions on gender equality covering different areas (employment, education, training and professional qualification) but in practice the enforcement of non-discrimination legislation remains low.
Education and Culture
The European Commission states that Bosnia and Herzegovina is at an early stage of preparation in the area of education and culture. It is stated that there was no specific progress in the area, with Bosnia and Herzegovina failing to participate in 2021 PIRLS or 2022 PISA. In particular, a fully functional system of accreditation of higher education institutions and in particular study programmes is still lacking.
According to the European Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to align legislation at all levels of government with the framework laws on education, and ensure application of the common core curriculum based on learning outcomes. Social inclusion at all stages of education needs to be ensured. Youth strategies across the country should be developed and implemented. Finally, the European Commission provides specific recommendations to Bosnia and Herzegovina:
→ to extend and update the action plan for the national qualification framework (NQF) and establish an inter-sectoral commission for NQF;
→to ensure a fully functional system of (re-)accreditation of higher education institutions and study programmes across the country;
→ to ensure continued participation in international assessment studies and implementation of findings to improve PISA results.
Furthermore, in the specific area of education and training some other issues have to be underlined. First of all, education should be provided to children with special needs, particularly in terms of ensuring the necessary infrastructure, provisions, transportation and school assistants to support both children and teachers. Secondly, the absence of a mechanism to systematically measure or monitor the quality of education inputs, outputs, or outcomes needs to be taken into consideration. Finally, the European Commission underlines the lack of common standards for the different levels of education, as well as in teacher training and performance evaluation.
Sweden enjoys a great reputation in the world not only in the category of education, but also for its economy and successful implementation and execution of the duties of a welfare state. Sweden is known to be regulated very clearly and successfully. It is applauded for being one of the countries with the best regulatory mechanisms for the refugee crisis and immigration and to be one of the pioneers in handling the climate crisis. But is Sweden truly as imperceptible in terms of education as is assumed? Which educational challenges is Sweden facing?
General information
Swedish student are attending school compulsorily for 10 years. School is government funded, e.g. through taxes. Therefore, every child has the possibility to attend school. Access to education is high.[1] Students attend the following school stages: ”förskoleklass (‘preschool year’ or year 0), lågstadiet (years 1-3), mellanstadiet (years 4-6) and högstadiet (years 7-9).” [2] These are the compulsory years. A highschool education, gymnasium, which is attended from years 10-12 is possible, but not compulsory. The higher education system is divided into universities and högskola. Högskola can be compared to university college.
Considering the International school awards, the international school Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket won an environmental award in 2021. This was announced by ISC Research.[3] Both Sweden’s investment in education in financial terms and the study outcome in terms of reading performance are above the OECD average, a benchmark created by PISA. This means that the Swedish government puts sufficient focus on education and that the financial input and educational output align.[4] According to the HMRI Rights Tracker, “on the right to education, Sweden is doing 86.0% of what should be possible at its level of income (measured against the income adjusted benchmark).” [5] With this, Sweden finds itself in the top 10 countries with the highest score in the category “right to education”. The leading country is Singapore with 96.5 percent. Finland, Sweden’s neighboring country, is ranked in 7th place.
Quality of university education
In total, Sweden established 50 institutions of higher education on its land.[6] According to the QS World University Ranking 2022, six Swedish universities are among the top 200 universities worldwide, the best ranked being Lund University coming in place 89, scoring 60.1 overall. Lund University is followed by KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology. Two other universities are ranked by the QS Ranking within the top 200 universities worldwide, the remaining 45 universities are not mentioned. The worst ranked university on the QS World University Ranking 2002 is Umeå University, scoring 30.5.[7]
Migrated students and the issues they face
Sweden is a country with large numbers of immigration. 14.4% of Swedish citizens are, as of 2009, born in other countries, and therefore immigrated to Sweden.[8] The PISA report recommends Sweden to have a closer focus on the needs of those with an immigration background, who make up more than 5 percent of their attending students. As immigrant students have it much harder to obtain high study results, there should be extra support for this demographic of students.[9] The gap in study performance between those born in Sweden and those whose families immigrated to Sweden is significant: 27% less students from immigration backgrounds are able to achieve high levels in the PISA testing. Furthermore, anxiety is also much higher amongst those students who are not born in Sweden.[10] Furthermore, almost one in two immigrant students in Sweden finds themselves at a disadvantage.[11] The gaps in performance and dedication to study remain big between those who were born in Sweden and those who immigrated. Even though Sweden has taken significant steps towards creating equal opportunities for those who seek refuge and more opportunities in the Swedish country and making relatively open immigration policies, there still is a lot of work that needs to be done. Seen on a global scale, the chances of those with low study performance due to socio-economic background attending the same school as those with high study performance is relatively high. It is stated that “disadvantaged students have at least a one-in-five chance of having high-achieving schoolmates”. [12] When asked if they believe that their intelligence cannot be affected, which is a question asked by PISA to find out if students have a will to improve their learning capacities and knowledge, more than 60 percent of students disagreed with this statement in 2018. This means that they believed that their own actions could affect their intelligence. Yet, there was a negative difference between immigrant and non-immigrant students.[13]
However, there are serious efforts to include those students from other countries into the Swedish educational system. They receive the right to study at the same schools as Swedish students and there is more focus being set on integration. Students who are originally from other countries also have the right to tutoring in their mother tongue if enough students with the same mother tongue are in their vicinity.[14] This indicates that the Swedish government also takes steps to accommodate those who are not native in the Swedish culture and language.
Performance
On the PISA report 2018 [15], Sweden’s general educational performance ranks at place 11. It is the 5th best country according to study performance in Europe. The PISA test examines students’ academic abilities in three disciplines: reading, mathematics and science. Students performace is measured in points and divided into 6 levels, level 1 being level 1a and 1b. In all three categories, Sweden scored in level 5, together with many other European states, such as Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.[16] Sweden’s study performance has been increasing in between the tests from 2015 to 2018.[17] Even though the trend was negative, now the curve is flattening, which means that the negative developments in reading performance are slowly coming to an end. It also shows that the investment in education, which is over OECD average, also leads to reading results higher than average. Students in Sweden scored 505 points on the reading test, the OECD average being 487 points and the maximum 555 points.[18]
New trends- Prepping being taught at schools
As a result of new developments, preppin is now being taught at Swedish highschools. Out of fear of a Russian military attack, not only private courses, but also public schools teach how to prepare for an emergency of this nature. There remains a possibility that Russia might settle its military on the Swedish island Gotland to be in a better position to attack and possibly annex the Baltics. Risk managers are giving classes at Swedish schools to inform the students about possible dangers and how to prepare for them. In these classes, students are taught how to prepare not only for the Russian invasion, but also for other catastrophes that could be a result of climate change or other global influences. [19] Sweden has already been focusing energy on teaching prepping since 2017, which had been intensified by the Covid 19 pandemic.[20]
Conclusion
To conclude, Sweden enjoys a good reputation for its education for a reason. The financial input is high, and the study performance has been increasing as well. Sweden has been successful at fixing its issues with decreasing performance and is slowly bringing this trend to an end. However, Sweden faces multiple immigration gap related issues. There should be a stronger focus at aligning the needs of immigrated and native-born students.
Bergmark, & Hansson, K. 2021. “How Teachers and Principals Enact the Policy of Building Education in Sweden on a Scientific Foundation and Proven Experience: Challenges and Opportunities.” Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 65(3), 448–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2020.1713883.
Forsberg, E., Hallsén, S., Karlsson, M., Bowden, H. M., Mikhaylova, T., & Svahn, J. (2021). “Läxhjälp as Shadow Education in Sweden: The Logic of Equality in “A School for All.’” ECNU Review of Education, 4(3), 494–519. https://doi.org/10.1177/2096531120966334.
Olsson, Emelie, 2021. Understanding swedish prepping : a mixed-method study on resilience, trust, and incentives to prepare for crises. Second cycle, A2E. Uppsala: SLU, Dept. of Urban and Rural Development.
Persson, Magnus. 2022. “Crossing a Social Demarcation Line: Students Experience Friction in the Transformed Swedish Higher Education System.” International Studies in Sociology of Education 0 (0): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2022.2125039.
[20] Olsson, Emelie, 2021. Understanding swedish prepping : a mixed-method study on resilience, trust, and incentives to prepare for crises. Second cycle, A2E. Uppsala: SLU, Dept. of Urban and Rural Development.
This January 24th, Broken Chalk invites you to join us in celebrating International Day of Education.
On this day, we recognize this year’s achievements in education policy while simultaneously considering the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, a global rise in armed conflict, increased limitations on freedom of expression, and global economic downturn, which has contributed to limited educational funding, falling education standards, and lower enrollment rates. More than anything, we at Broken Chalk hope to lead the global NGO community to redouble our collective commitment to education.
Let’s first focus on how Broken Chalk has positively contributed to realizing education as a human right in 2022. This year, Broken Chalk conducted significant research into the educational challenges facing over 25 countries, including funding dimensions, enrollment, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic distribution, gender equality, accessibility for disabled students, graduate employment rates, and access to vocational training for young adults. These educational challenges reports, published on our website and social media platforms, raised awareness about certain countries’ most pressing academic problems or most positive educational initiatives.
In addition, Broken Chalk began a new report series summarizing and analyzing the European Union’s 2021 enlargement package for the Western Balkans and Turkey. Specifically, this series produced seven reports, one for each country being considered for accession, noting the areas in which the EU recommended fundamental reforms. Each report examined the subject country’s educational policy, respect for children’s rights, socioeconomic equality, and access to public services according to the EU enlargement package’s metrics and evaluations. As a result, the reports generated critical contemplation about how the EU’s proposed reforms would impact education.
Finally, Broken Chalk participated in the annual United Nations Universal Periodic Review, as we have since our establishment in 2020. The UPR is a unique process by which states consider other states’ human rights policies and records in a peer-to-peer review and reform dialogue. To facilitate this dialogue, NGOs, National Human Rights Institutions, and civil society organizations are invited to submit statements and reports about the subject country’s human rights policies and records. This year, Broken Chalk completed submissions to the UPR for 30 countries. These submissions are vital to the UPR exercise because certain selected comments and recommendations for improvement are sent directly to the discussion floor. This round, many of Broken Chalk’s recommendations have been accepted by the UPR, signifying that Broken Chalk is generating meaningful discussion within the human rights community and tangibly contributing to significant material reforms within countries where human rights violations routinely occur.
Now, consider how Broken Chalk plans to expand its ongoing work with research, reports, and awareness-raising. We will continue our educational challenges reports, hopefully extending to new areas of the world. Scheduled are the reports for 35 more countries, again considering the challenges that the state, its educational bureaucracy, schools, and students face. We will again participate in the 2023 UPR, with plans to submit reports for another 39 countries. Beyond this, we have also planned new initiatives to further education as a human right in 2023. We hope to begin new projects, including new report series and proactive projects with local and global partners on the ground.
On this International Education Day, with the new year still fresh, Broken Chalk remains focused on the most severe issues facing educational institutions and students today. Collectively, global civil society and NGOs must cooperate to transform the future of education. We hope to instigate dialogue about strengthening the quality of education available equally to all, navigating the digital transformation of educational resources, supporting teachers, and guaranteeing a safe and sustainable platform for student voices. This International Education Day, please consider how you can contribute to these goals as an individual and a member of a global human rights community. Education is both a human right and a key to sustainable development, political harmony, and social cohesion. Happy International Day of Education!
Over 20 years, Israel has seen some significant developments connected to its education system. These advancements, by 2019, led to Israel becoming one of the highest spenders on primary, secondary, and post-secondary non-tertiary education as a share of GDP amongst OECD countries (Israel: 6.7%, OECD average: 4.9%),[i] with more than half of the population holding tertiary attainment between age 25 and 64.[ii] Furthermore, Israel’s fast technological developments put the country on the list of the top 20 most innovative countries in the world.[iii]
Despite all successes, Israel is still behind in ensuring some basic human rights regarding access to education for all its citizens and residents. Following brief overview of Israel’s ethnic composition and education system, this article highlights some of the most urgent issues in the country’s education sector by looking at educational differences along ethnic groups and socioeconomic classes, analysing the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as investigating what is going on in Area C of the occupied territories of the West Bank.
The Composition and Historical context of Ethnic Groups in Israel
Israel is a multi-ethnic, multinational, and multicultural state; 74% of the population is Jewish, 21% is Arab, 1.5% is Ethiopian, and the remaining 3.5% are identified as “others”. The composition of the Arabic-speaking population can be further categorised according to religious beliefs: 85% of them are Muslim, 7.5% are Christian, and the remaining 7.5% are Druze.
The ethnic composition of the Israeli population is crucial to discussing issues in the country since many problems stem from discrimination and clashes among ethnic groups, and the Israeli education system reflects these issues too. Conflict among these ethnic (and religious) groups frequently have deep historical roots, particularly in the case of clashes between the Jewish and the Arabic groups. Their conflict dates back to the very creation of Israel as a state, and the several wars throughout the 20th century, such as the 1948 Arab-Israel War, the Six-Day War of 1967, and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, further complicated the relationship of the two sides.
The Arabic-speaking minorities’ national identity rarely associate with Israel, whose political leadership stresses the state’s Jewish character, while refusing to recognise Arab or Palestinian national identities. Moreover, Israel frequently applies discriminatory practices towards these ethnic groups (also in the education sector) because state authorities frequently perceive them as a security threat due to the historical Arab-Israel conflicts.[iv]
The Younger the Better – The Israeli Education System
From its very foundation in 1948, the State of Israel has been closely monitoring and regulating its education system because they have been considering education as a way to ensure social mobility. The 1949 Compulsory Education Act was the first official legal action taken in Israel to enforce compulsory education which ensured free school attendance for children for 9 years from age 5.[v] Later amendments further expanded the Act, and, by 2009, compulsory education was extended until grade 12, while, by 2016, compulsory school entrance age was lowered to age 3.[vi] The successes of the Israeli education system are further reflected in the fact that despite compulsory education starting at age 3, 47% of children are already enrolled in an educational institution before age 2.[vii] Furthermore, 99% of the child population between age 3 and 5 was enrolled in an educational institution in 2019.[viii]
State-funded Israeli general education works along a four-stream system to satisfy all cultural, religious, and ethnic demands of its population. Consequently, the state provides secular, religious, and ultra-orthodox (Haredi) educational institutions for Jewish Israelis, while Arab schools serve the needs of Arab, Bedouin, Christian Arab, and Druze Israeli minorities.[ix] Along these ethnic and cultural lines, Hebrew-speaking schools are managed by Jewish principals while schools teaching in Arabic are coordinated by Arab principals. However, all principals are subjugated to centralised Israeli administration, funding, and curriculum which ensure similar requirements and control teacher-salaries.[x]
‘Some are More Equal Than Others’[xi] – Ethnic Discrimination in Education
Although the four-stream school system seemingly satisfies different types of cultural and religious demands, the curricula of Arab schools are largely organized by a Zionist narrative which omit Arab historical, geographical, and cultural perspectives.[xii] Arabs are underrepresented in governmental educational decision-making bodies, as well as in educational planning and supervision positions, which prevents the interest of the Arabic-speaking community from being asserted both on national and on local levels.[xiii] Thus, despite the wide-range of official responsibilities of the Arab schools’ leaders, they have little influence on decisions concerning their institutions as most educational policies are top-down determined.[xiv]
Inequality is also prominent between Jewish and Arab schools when it comes to budget allocation for advance learning programmes, and to provide programmes supporting students who have fallen behind or children with disabilities.[xv] Moreover, an approximately 30% smaller budget is allocated to the Arab school system in population ratio. Differences in school budgets are tightly connected to inequality of opportunity and quality issues, as Arab schools often have ‘fewer classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and qualified teachers’.[xvi] These factors also result larger classes which hinder the learning of students because they have less individual attention from their teachers. In addition, Arabic-speaking students are required to learn Hebrew too, which is an additional subject for Arab students on top of all other compulsory subjects, yet schools do not receive extra funding to support their learning. [xvii]
The abovementioned factors negatively influence the learning outcomes of Arabic-speaking students which is indicated by the average lower achievement of Arab pupils and students on both national and international exams.[xviii] Arab students are 30% less likely to receive a matriculation certificate (Bagrut) which is needed to enter higher education and certain courses or even jobs.[xix]
Ethiopian students also experience significant discrimination. Although most of them attend Jewish religious schools, particularly the Orthodox Jewish community in particular questions the legitimacy of the minority’s Jewish identity due to their relatively recent presence in Israel and often also because of their darker skin colour.[xx] Racial discrimination, sometimes even by teachers, combined with low socioeconomic background widens the educational gap between Jewish and Ethiopian Israelis and results a considerably large dropout rate (10.5% official dropout and 23% hidden dropout) among Ethiopian students.[xxi] The issues Ethiopian students face are so severe that only ‘30% of twelfth-grade Ethiopian students earn the Bagrut at the level required for university entrance, compared to 65% of the general Jewish student population’ which further hinders Israeli Ethiopeans’ social mobility.[xxii]
Haim Zach / Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Innovation But Not Equal Distribution –Socioeconomic Obstacles in Education
In Israel, socioeconomic inequalities majorly exist along ethnic and religious lines: Arabs and Haredi Jews together constitute approximately 30% of the Israeli population but make up 60% of the poor in the country.[xxiii] The reason behind this overrepresentation varies for the two groups.
As mentioned before, historical hostility between Arabs and Jewish Israelis are still prominent and often result in discrimination towards Arabs. Haredi Jews, on the other hand, are stuck in lower socioeconomic positions because of their strictly orthodox religious lifestyle in which men dedicate their life for reading the Torah and the community lives in relative segregation.[xxiv]
Figure 2 Israel Sci-Tech Schools. “Haredi Schools and Villages.” Friends of Israel Sci-Tech Schools. https://www.israel-scitech-schools.com/pioneering-models/haredi-schools-and-villages/. (Accessed: 15 October 2022).
While Jewish Israelis usually receive quality education for years and live in families where both parents work, Arab and Haredi communities frequently lack quality education, have lower paid jobs, and live in families where either one or both parents are unemployed.[xxv] Low socioeconomic background is generally in negative correlation with dropout rates, while the parents’ level of education is also a significant factor; the higher the number of years the parents attended school, the lower their children’s chances to drop out.[xxvi] This shows a vicious circle of social immobility which widens the educational and socioeconomic gap between the ethnic and religious groups in Israel.
However, not only are parents’ financial and educational statuses determinant in dropout rates. Since funding for general education institutions is allocated by local governments, schools in less affluent areas are frequently underfunded and cannot always provide quality education. This means that funding for Arab schools in Arab neighbourhoods can be 10 or even 20 times lower than in wealthier areas.[xxvii] Moreover, the population of Arab areas is increasing, which means a significant rise in student numbers in Arab schools.
In light of the above, the redistribution and reconsideration of funding allocation is becoming urgent to ensure quality education to all students in these areas.[xxviii] Financial issues affect the quality of Arab schools negatively, which can have a demotivating effect on Arabic-speaking student to continue or finish their studies. It gives some hope, however, that dropout rates have significantly declined since 2003 among Arabic-speaking students and fallen from 15.8% to 8.1% thanks to some reforms targeting the Arab education sector.[xxix]
When it comes to the Haredi community, boys from age 14 often transfer to yeshiva schools which are not supervised by the Israeli Ministry of Education. These schools follow a specific curriculum which rather focuses on religious studies and gives little space to regular school subjects. This means that Haredi students usually perform worse than other Jewish Israelis on international exams neither do they attain the Bagrut, which prevents them from entering higher education.[xxx]
However, recently the Israeli government has shown some admirable efforts in assisting yeshiva schools to ensure more regular subjects being taught, and thus increasing the chances of young Haredi Jews to pursue higher education and higher paid jobs. The state offered to cover 100% of the funding with an additional stipend for each student at every Haredi school that adopts core subjects in its curriculum, like mathematics or English.[xxxi]
Lacking Technology in the 15th Most Innovative Country – Issues During the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic further widened the educational gap along socioeconomic lines. Israel has closed its educational institutions due to the pandemic in March 2020 and continued providing education through remote teaching.
However, many households lacked basic facilities needed for online education (computers, internet access, or even electricity) and even if they had access to them, families often could not afford multiple devices and facilities to support the learning of all their children.[xxxii]
The seriousness of these issues is exacerbated by the fact that students with low socioeconomic statuses are more likely to need assistance or extra attention from teachers which they rarely had the chance to get through online teaching, especially that some teachers also had difficulties adapting to remote teaching.[xxxiii] While some only struggled with getting used to the online platforms, others simply did not have access to appropriate facilities necessary for remote teaching.
In addition, online teaching was problematic in the Haredi Jewish community also because they traditionally avoid using internet, and although the number of internet users in the community is increasing, it is still not without obstacles for some children to participate in online education. A few Haredi schools simply refused to stop in-person teaching.[xxxiv]
Troubled Territories – Area C
Eventually, it is important to take a look at the West Bank territories (the majority of Palestine’s territory) occupied by Israel with almost only Arab residents. Legal, administrative, and governmental (and so many other) statuses of this region are complex and cluttered, but it is clear that Israel have significant influence over the region in every aspect.
The occupied West Bank territories were divided into three administrative regions in 1995, Area A, B and C.[xxxv] To put it simply, Area A is majorly governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), while in Area B the PA has similar responsibilities, except for the security of the area which is managed by Israeli authorities. Area C, which means roughly 60% of the West Bank’s territories, is under Israeli control apart from certain civilian issues such as education and healthcare.
Figure 3 Welcome to Palestine. “Everything You Need to Know about Areas A, B and C.” Welcome To Palestine, July 21, 2017. https://www.welcometopalestine.com/article/areas-a-b-c-explained-west-bank-israel-gaza-palestine/. (Accessed: 15 October 2022).Figure 4 Kadman, Noga. “Acting the Landlord: Israel’s Policy in Area C, the West Bank.” B’TSELEM. June 2013. https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201306_acting_the_landlord. (Accessed: 19 September 2022).
Despite it seems that Israel does not have much to do with education in the West Bank, they do have a tremendous amount of indirect influence over these civilian sectors just by controlling land or constructions in Area C. Besides, international law also identifies some responsibilities for Israel as it states that territorial occupants need to ensure human rights and dignified living conditions for people subjected to occupation.[xxxvi]
The education sector in Area A and B are affected by the overwhelming control of Israeli authorities in Area C, since the isolated regions with no airport or bay can only get supplies through Area C. However, this article primarily focuses on Area C as the education sector faces the most severe problems there.
Area C of the occupied West Bank territories hosts approximately 325 thousand Jewish Israelis, 180 thousand Palestinians, and 20 thousand Bedouin and other shepherding Israelis.[xxxvii] Israeli control limits non-Israeli settlement and certain activities, such as construction and infrastructural matters. These measures often leave non-Jewish villages without basic utilities and services, such as water, electricity, healthcare, education, or appropriate public transportation and roads.[xxxviii] Moreover, Israeli authorities have the right to demolish Palestinian and Bedouin settlements along Israeli interest and relocate their population.[xxxix] Some Bedouin villages are demolished simply because the Israeli authorities do not acknowledge them as official settlements. [xl]
Despite the lack of direct Israeli influence on education, these conditions prevent mostly Palestinian and Bedouin children from attending school among appropriate conditions, or even from attending at all. The demolition of settlements endangers educational institutions as well, while new schools can rarely be built due to the restriction of non-Jewish construction. This leaves entire villages without any form of educational services. In 2012 alone, 37 schools were facing demolition because they were built without a permit from Israeli authorities.[xli]
The lack of infrastructure is also challenging for non-Jewish children to physically get to school, as public transportation and school buses are limited in the area.[xlii] 189 out of 532 settlements do not even have a primary school at all,[xliii] which means that many children have to walk up to two hours each way to get to school.[xliv] This often becomes impossible when weather conditions are hostile.[xlv]
In addition, it is often unsafe for small children to travel alone to school due to frequent atrocities targeting Palestinian and Bedouin children, some of which is committed at military checkpoints where children often need to cross to get to school.[xlvi] During school raids, the Israeli military frequently arrests several students and confiscate school equipment. These dangers discourage parents to send their children to school, especially their daughters. [xlvii]
Girls’ education is particularly endangered as some traditional societal norms prohibit them to travel alone and when no male family member can accompany them on the way, they cannot attend school.[xlviii] In addition, early marriage, or the need for them to stay home to help take care of their grandparents or disabled siblings, for instance, also results in many girls never attending or failing to finish their education. [xlix] However, it is not genuine to girls to potentially drop out or miss school to help out their parents.[l] As the socioeconomic gap widens between Jewish Israelis and non-Jewish citizens and residents, some families become unable to afford school equipment, basic needs like shoes,[li] or public transportation, thus they cannot send their children to school despite education itself is free.[lii]
These circumstances negatively influence the quality of education which results in common disinterest in education among children in Area C which can result in children leaving school, while the ones who can continue with their studies often do this in poor-equipped educational institutions.[liii] Dropout rates are particularly high among Bedouin children: only 32% of them get a matriculation certificate compared to 68% of the Israeli population (excluding the Haredi community). [liv] These issues were exacerbated by schools shifting to online teaching during COVID-19, as Bedouins frequently live in tents without any electricity, internet access, and computers.[lv] ‘About 100,000 Bedouin students and about 2,000 Bedouin college students from the Negev’ had severe difficulties to attend school during the pandemic. [lvi]
Finally, it is also important to highlight that education in Area C lacks the adequate financial resources. Most financial support arrive from international organisations, such as the USAID, UNRWA, and the Middle East Quartet.[lvii] However, both these organisations and the PA need to complete prolonged bureaucratic procedures to finance projects and receive permit from Israeli authorities. The difficulties frequently result in organisations abandoning their projects or lead to subsequent delays in project implementation.[lviii]
Final Remarks
Israel inarguably has some admirable achievements regarding its education sector. However, policymaking and policy implementation face severe difficulties not only in terms of creating effective and inclusive policies for its ethnically and religiously diverse population, but also because of (unresolved) historical conflicts among the country’s ethnic groups. These clashes are reflected in Israel’s education system where the disadvantage of, for example, Arab or Ethiopian Israeli students is significant compared to Jewish Israeli students. These inequalities are partly indicated by the generally worse performance of Arab or Ethiopian students on both international and domestic exams.
Tackling educational inequalities (or any discriminatory practices embedded into a social, political, or economic system) is a multi-generational project. However tedious, slow, or impossible it seems sometimes to carry on with such an initiative, the current state of the Israeli education will lead to further damage if inequality issues are left unresolved. The vicious circle of poverty, closely intertwined with ethnic lines, cannot break without mutual cooperation, understanding, and the recognition of each other’s grievances. The Israeli government in cooperation with civil society actors must bridge societal gaps and the wide-spread disconnection between ethnic groups and between socioeconomic classes, to build an empathetic and harmonious society.
Of course, issues are more complex than simply setting up a few educational programmes or giving some extra funding for Arabic-speaking schools, for instance. But change must start somewhere, and maybe it has already in the six Hand in Hand Arabic-Jewish schools.[lix] The bilingual privately funded schools work with a multicultural curriculum that aims to advance inclusion and equality in the Israeli society. Hand in Hand does not only initiate productive discussion between ethnic groups but also facilitate their harmonious cohabitation and cooperation to build a healthier society and a peaceful future.
[x] Da’as, Rima’a, and Alexander Zibenberg. “Conflict, control and culture: implications for implicit followership and leadership theories.” Educational Review 73, no.2 (2021): 199.
[xi] Orwell, George. Animal Farm. 1945. Reprint, Boston ; New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Corp, 1945.
[xii] Reingold, Roni, and Lea Baratz. “Arab School Principals in Israel – between Conformity and Moral Courage.” Intercultural Education 31, no. 1 (November 20, 2019): 88.
[xiii] Da’as, Rima’a and Alexander Zibenberg. “Conflict, control and culture: implications for implicit followership and leadership theories.” Educational Review 73, no.2 (2021): 189.
[xiv] Reingold, Roni, and Lea Baratz. “Arab School Principals in Israel – between Conformity and Moral Courage.” Intercultural Education 31, no. 1 (November 20, 2019): 89.
[xv] Da’as, Rima’a and Alexander Zibenberg. “Conflict, control and culture: implications for implicit followership and leadership theories.” Educational Review 73, no.2 (2021): 199.
[xvi] Zeedan, Rami, and Rachel Elizabeth Hogan. “The Correlation between Budgets and Matriculation Exams: The Case of Jewish and Arab Schools in Israel.” Education Sciences, 12, no.554 (2022): 2.
[xvii] Resh, Nura, and Nachum Blass. “Israel: Gaps in Educational Outcomes in a Changing Multi- Ethnic Society.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education, edited by Peter A. J. Dworkin and A. Gary Stevens, 631–94. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019; 671.
[xviii] Da’as, Rima’a and Alexander Zibenberg. “Conflict, control and culture: implications for implicit followership and leadership theories.” Educational Review 73, no.2 (2021): 199.
[xix] Zeedan, Rami, and Rachel Elizabeth Hogan. “The Correlation between Budgets and Matriculation Exams: The Case of Jewish and Arab Schools in Israel.” Education Sciences, 12, no.554 (2022): 2.
[xx] Resh, Nura, and Nachum Blass. “Israel: Gaps in Educational Outcomes in a Changing Multi- Ethnic Society.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education, edited by Peter A. J. Dworkin and A. Gary Stevens, 631–94. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019; 659.
[xxiii] OECD. “Israel: A Divided Society – Results of a Review of Labour-Market and Social Policy.” OECD. OECD, 2010. https://www.oecd.org/els/44394444.pdf (Accessed 20 September 2022).
[xxiv] Black, Shlomo, Itschak Trachtengot, and Gabriel Horenczyk. “Community Post-Traumatic Growth: Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Coping with Coronavirus.” Contemporary Jewry 42, no. 1 (March 2022): 86, 90.
[xxv] OECD. “Israel: A Divided Society – Results of a Review of Labour-Market and Social Policy.” OECD. OECD, 2010. https://www.oecd.org/els/44394444.pdf (Accessed 20 September 2022).
[xxvi] Yanay, Guy, Hadas Fuchs, and Nachum Blass. “Staying in School Longer, Dropping out Less: Trends in the High School Dropout Phenomenon.” Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, 2019; 19.
[xxix] Yanay, Guy, Hadas Fuchs, and Nachum Blass. “Staying in School Longer, Dropping out Less: Trends in the High School Dropout Phenomenon.” Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, 2019; 9, 11-12.
[xxxi] Shain, Yossi. “Régóta esedékes változás következik a Haredi iskolarendszerben – Vélemény.” The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com, 2022. július 2. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-711008. (Accessed: 28 September 2022).
[xxxiii] Sabag, Ziba, and Shirly Cohen. “The Influence of the COVID-19 Epidemic on Teaching Methods in Higher Education Institutions in Israel”. Journal of Research in Higher Education 1 (2020):44-71.
[xliii] OHCHR. “United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – Occupied Palestinian Territory | Access to Education in Area c of the West Bank.” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – occupied Palestinian territory, July 4, 2017. https://www.ochaopt.org/content/access-education-area-c-west-bank. (Accessed 20 September 2022).
[xlvi] OHCHR. “United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – Occupied Palestinian Territory | Access to Education in Area c of the West Bank.” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – occupied Palestinian territory, July 4, 2017. https://www.ochaopt.org/content/access-education-area-c-west-bank. (Accessed 20 September 2022).
[lii] Kadman, Noga. “Acting the Landlord: Israel’s Policy in Area C, the West Bank.” Edited by Yael Stein. B’TSELEM. The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, June 2013. https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201306_acting_the_landlord. (Accessed 19 September 2022); 52.
[liii] UNICEF. “State of Palestine: Country Report on Out-of-School Children.” UNICEF, July 2018, 3.; Kadman, Noga. “Acting the Landlord: Israel’s Policy in Area C, the West Bank.” Edited by Yael Stein. B’TSELEM. The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, June 2013. https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201306_acting_the_landlord. (Accessed 19 September 2022); 82.
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