Abstract:

In Israel, as in many countries around the world, secondary school learning is done in separated disciplines. These disciplines are hierarchically organized in accordance with the distinct prestige attributed to them as a result of social, cultural and economic processes that take place on a local and global level.

Prestige is a sociological concept that symbolizes a measure of social value attributed to individuals, groups and organizations on a hierarchical basis of respect, recognition and skills. Prestige is based on shared social and cultural beliefs and perceptions about who or what holds a high or low social value. Common cultural beliefs about attributing prestige allow for an unequal distribution of resources and power to be perceived as natural and just. In the global reality the prestige attributed to the STEM disciplines is perceived as higher than that attributed to the humanities disciplines. Thus the STEM disciplines are entitled to more resources and higher reward within education systems. This reward is reflected in the ability to convert internships in these disciplines into lucrative occupations in the local and global labor market.

The Covid-19 crisis created a sharp change in the teaching-learning processes in schools and summoned a new experience to the pre-service teachers studying in secondary school program at the college: distance learning on various technological platforms. Since distance learning and the integration of technologies may affect the status of prestige attributed to the discipline, our main research question is: How do pre-service teachers in humanities and STEM disciplines perceive the prestige attributed to their discipline during a routine and in times of crisis? In particular, the study seeks to reveal whether, in the view of the trainees, the transition to distance learning has created any change in the prestige attributed to the discipline? Answering this question will allow us to examine ways to reduce, during the training process, the prestige gaps between disciplines and their implications for social stratification within the education system.

The findings of the study revealed that trainees in both disciplines were clearly aware of the differentiated status of prestige before Covid-19. Students in the humanistic disciplines described low prestige while students in the STEM disciplines expressed a clear awareness of the high prestige attributed to their discipline and their choice to specialize in STEM disciplines precisely because of their high prestige.

Trainees in both disciplines described changes in prestige following the Covid-19 crisis and the shift to distance learning. Humanities disciplines students have described two main trends - rise of prestige and decline of prestige. In contrast, trainees in the STEM disciplines have described trends of maintaining high prestige and even strengthening prestige.

The implications of the research for teachers education relate to the importance of discussing with pre-service teachers the prestige status of disciplines and its impact on teaching-learning processes in routine and in crisis. Pre-service teachers in humanistic disciplines can take a proactive stance about status prestige by changing teaching methods and building new curricula. pre-service teachers in STEM disciplines must be aware of the implications of social justice that accompany the status of prestige and work to promote equal opportunities in both routine and crisis times.

Keywords:

STEM, humanities, prestige, distance learning.