Abstract:

Multicultural education is a challenging task of the education system. It is an ongoing process that combines learning with developing self-awareness and acceptance of diversity as the essence and basis of education (Wurzle, 1987). Israel's former President, Reuven Rivlin, initiated the "Israeli Hope" project to promote a partnership between the country's divided groups. Consequently, the Israeli education system has taken measures to deepen the acquaintance between different groups in Israeli society towards promoting new partnerships.

In 2021, the Levinsky College of Education developed and began applying a first-of-its-kind two-phase teacher training pilot for preservice teachers and teachers in the first induction year. The program is designed to enhance inclusion, a diversity dialogue, and intensified interactions between divided groups. It features a mixed learning platform using a wide range of information communication technologies (ICT).

The main elements of the program's syllabus are culture-responsive teaching (Magnus, 2016), constructivist pedagogy (Liebman, 2013), and the psycho-pedagogical conception (Zimmerman, Slonim, Gilad, 2014). It underscores pluralistic teaching processes that allow for including different dimensions of identity in the classroom discourse.

The program had three objectives:
1. Expand the discourse of teachers and students to cover inclusion, diversity, acceptance.
2. Instill in students and teachers a sense of self-confidence in their ability to conduct a dialogue of diversity, multiculturalism, and values in the classroom.
3. Promote a discourse on inclusion, diversity, acceptance, and absorbance in schools.
4. Combine face-to-face meetings with online synchronic and a-synchronic interaction in the group.

Principles of operation:
1. Top-down & Bottom-up: In the program, teaching and learning occur in a spiral movement where the teachers learn the practices and at the same time implement them in their classes, applying their experiences in the process.
2. Long-term vision: Delivery of the program occurrs over two phases of the teachers' professional development. It begins during the training phase, and continues in the first year of induction. An optimal assimilation of values occurs by incorporating the learned content into the curricula, followed by an ongoing process of learning (Edri and Movshivitz-Hadar, 2012).
3. Mixed learning and teaching spaces: fieldwork, classroom sessions, and online platforms. We aim to create a sense of belonging unrestricted by specific locations and times.

In our presentation, we will share the initial findings of the study accompanying the program, which examines the questions:
(a) How do teachers perceive the program's activities?
(b) How do teachers propose to conduct a multicultural discourse in the classroom?
(c) What challenges do the program's teachers mention?

Keywords:

Israel Hope, online platform, teachers' induction.