Tamaño de fuente:
'Core curriculum' as educational means in the struggles toward emancipation: The Zionist case, 1891-1948
Última modificación: 2017-07-17
Resumen
Ralph Tyler (1991), one of the founding fathers of curriculum studies, defined "core curriculum" in this way: "The curriculum has come to be viewed as composed of two parts: the common core, and peripheral subjects… " (p. 175). The Zionist core curricula during the "Yishuv" (pre-State Israel) period served as an educational means in the struggles against the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate toward emancipation and building the Jewish State. In this paper I analyzed the historical development of the contents in the eight main Zionist core curricula of the Yishuv period (primary sources, 1891-1948) and their secondary studies (by the method of "systematic review"), with varying emphases in all urban and rural schools, for boys and girls, and in all the three Educational ideological-political Trends of the educational system during the British period: the Zionist-religious Mizrahi Trend, the Zionist-socialist Labor Trend and the general-Zionist General Trend.
The educational struggles for Jewish-Zionist emancipation in Eretz-Israel took place at the time of the Yishuv by determining the shared core curricula centered on Jewish-Zionist values: in the years 1891/2 (by Teachers’ Assembly - thirteen teachers from the southern villages in Eretz-Israel existing at the time); in 1903, 1907/1911 (by the Teachers’ Union that led the educational system in the end of Ottoman period); in 1923, 1932, 1937 (by the Education Department of the Zionist administration in Eretz-Israel [till 1933] and of the 'government' of the Yishuv [1933 onwards] – as well as the three educational trends). In 1930 a core curriculum was instituted for all high schools in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa and in 1934/35 a syllabus for the final school examinations was agreed upon. All the eight main national core curricula shared the following characteristics: They were discussed and approved (even if not always formally) by the supreme national body dealing with education at the time – the Teachers’ Assembly, the Teachers’ Union, the 'Education Committee' that shaped the policy of the Education Departments and those departments, that represented the three educational trends. A systematic review of all these curricula shows that the subjects used to promote national education were always the same ones: Hebrew language and literature; Bible; Talmud, Mishnah and other Jewish holy books; Jewish and general history; nature study, homeland studies and geography with emphasis on Eretz-Israel; agriculture and crafts; and various arts. Even such general subjects as history, nature study and geography highlighted Judaism and Eretz-Israel, while the general studies served more as a background for the Zionist endeavor. The core curricula of Zionist education as devices for emancipation were intended for all strata of the population: The primary school curricula did so; the programs for the kindergartens, only partially decided on and written down, reached the whole Jewish population at the time, including the disadvantaged strata; high school education during the Yishuv was mostly elitist and selective, but it also spread to additional populations through the inclusion of vocational and agricultural studies in various schools.
The educational struggles for Jewish-Zionist emancipation in Eretz-Israel took place at the time of the Yishuv by determining the shared core curricula centered on Jewish-Zionist values: in the years 1891/2 (by Teachers’ Assembly - thirteen teachers from the southern villages in Eretz-Israel existing at the time); in 1903, 1907/1911 (by the Teachers’ Union that led the educational system in the end of Ottoman period); in 1923, 1932, 1937 (by the Education Department of the Zionist administration in Eretz-Israel [till 1933] and of the 'government' of the Yishuv [1933 onwards] – as well as the three educational trends). In 1930 a core curriculum was instituted for all high schools in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa and in 1934/35 a syllabus for the final school examinations was agreed upon. All the eight main national core curricula shared the following characteristics: They were discussed and approved (even if not always formally) by the supreme national body dealing with education at the time – the Teachers’ Assembly, the Teachers’ Union, the 'Education Committee' that shaped the policy of the Education Departments and those departments, that represented the three educational trends. A systematic review of all these curricula shows that the subjects used to promote national education were always the same ones: Hebrew language and literature; Bible; Talmud, Mishnah and other Jewish holy books; Jewish and general history; nature study, homeland studies and geography with emphasis on Eretz-Israel; agriculture and crafts; and various arts. Even such general subjects as history, nature study and geography highlighted Judaism and Eretz-Israel, while the general studies served more as a background for the Zionist endeavor. The core curricula of Zionist education as devices for emancipation were intended for all strata of the population: The primary school curricula did so; the programs for the kindergartens, only partially decided on and written down, reached the whole Jewish population at the time, including the disadvantaged strata; high school education during the Yishuv was mostly elitist and selective, but it also spread to additional populations through the inclusion of vocational and agricultural studies in various schools.