“Exemplary” teachers: The perception of prospective teachers of role model teachers and their contribution to their professional identity

Arab Society in Israel: Education

The founding of the State of Israel was accompanied by dramatic demographic changes; the Palestinian Arabs, who were a majority during the period of the British Mandate, suddenly became a minority in their own country (Cohen, 2000), and thus a unique situation was created—a minority of the indigenous people (unlike a minority of immigrants, for example). Still today, Arab society’s collective identity includes several components: citizenship (Israeli), nationality (Palestinian), ethnicity (Arab), and religion (Islam, Christianity, or Druze), and this is how they perceive it—as a mix of four components, as a fine balance between them all, or as one identity which switches to another (Smooha, 2005). The Arab education system is subordinate to the central system in terms of learning content, organizational structure, and resource allocation. The language of instruction is Arabic, and the staff is Arab (Arar & Abu-Asbah, 2013). The Arabic-speaking education system in Israel is separate from the Hebrew-speaking Jewish system and its resources are fewer (Golan-Agnon, 2006). It receives less direct state funding, and less from local authorities due to constant discrimination and deprivation of the local Arab authorities compared to their Jewish counterparts. The gap between the two systems is greater still, given that the parents in Arab society tend to belong to the low socio-economic cluster and their abilities to pay for education are limited (Arar, 2012; Arar & Abu-Asbah, 2013). On average, Arab schools have larger classes, fewer teachers per student, and less psychological and special education counseling than Jewish schools (Abu-Saad, 2004). However, Arab society in Israel is not stagnant, but rather is in an accelerated process of social and cultural change from a conservative society, which, in the not so distant past, was based on agriculture, to one with signs of modernity (Ben-David, 2004). At the same time, the characteristics of traditional culture are preserved by the different socialization agents such as the school. Pedagogically, this is expressed in the teacher–student relationship and in the degree to which the student participates in the decision-making process (Abu-Asbah, 2007). The most widespread teaching method in the Arab schools is the traditional frontal system (Abu-Asbah, 2001). In this teacher-centered method, the teacher is considered responsible for the learning process, whereas the student is perceived as a passive receptacle of information. According to the traditional method, which dominates Arab culture, students respect the teachers, obey them, and never criticize them (Al-Haj, 2002). The students listen, are respectful and obedient, and do not play an active role in the lesson (Ilaiyan & Zedan, 2010; Kortam et al., 2019). According to Kortam et al. (2019), the Arab education system today is still quite traditional, despite some changes that have taken place. In their study, Arab science graduate student–teachers were found to have developed a more modern approach, encouraging students toward success and putting students at the center of learning. School and education are considered important in Arab society, especially in light of the economic, social, and demographic changes it is undergoing (Abu-Asbah, 2007). The attitude of Arab society in Israel toward acquiring education is very positive, despite (and perhaps because of) the social marginalization of this group (Khattab, 2003). This society does not accept its inferior status and the discrimination against it submissively, and its local leadership is fighting to improve the education system in the Arab communities (Yair et al., 2003).

The Forming of a Professional Educational Identity

The issue of when the formation of a professional educational identity begins is important in the context of those who are planning to work in education, and is no less important for teacher training. The professional educational identity of prospective teachers is formed prior to them entering the workforce. Teachers’ professional choices and considerations are not coincidental, but rather are born of past experiences that shaped their professional identity (Bar-Tikva, 2010). Students enter education teaching programs with a “strong set of beliefs, attitudes, and pre-conceptions” of what it is to be a teacher, which is also a resilient and powerful set of ideas for the construction of teacher identity (Chang-Kredl & Kingsley, 2014, p.29). The development of teacher identity is “an ongoing process of interpretation and reinterpretation of who one considers oneself to be and who one would like to become” (Van Lankveld et al., 2017, p.2). It is, therefore, appropriate to deal with the issue of identity already during preservice training (Fisherman, 2004; Friedman & Gavish, 2003; Sabar-Ben Yehoshua, 2001). Professional identity is also affected by a person’s surroundings and culture (Bosma & Kunnen, 2001). Rodgers and Scott (2008) proposed four assumptions regarding professional identity formation: professional identity is contextual and develops in connection with social, cultural, political, and historical aspects; professional identity is built through interactions with others and is formed emotionally though negotiations with person and against a geographical, socio-cultural, professional, and political background; the structure of one’s identity is constantly forming, developing, and changing; and professional identity-building tends to display coherence. This is why repetitive construction of meaning is evident, through experiential stories that accumulate over time. Yazan (2018) also examined teacher identity and defined it from five points of view: teachers’ own beliefs and perceptions of themselves as teachers; others’ expectations and social positioning; its dynamic and evolving nature; (re)construction of identity in social contexts and interactions; and teachers’ commitment to, participation, and investment in the profession (Friedman & Gavish, 2003).

Research Aims and Questions

The research aims were to characterize exemplary teachers through the eyes of Arab undergraduates studying education and to examine the impact of those teachers on the students’ professional future in the field of education. These two aims yielded two research questions:

1. How do Arab prospective teachers perceive the figure of an exemplary teacher from their past at school?

Method

This study, due to its interpretive nature, employed a qualitative approach to collect and analyze the empirical data. The research method applied here was “grounded theory” (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), which involves the construction of theories through the collection and analysis of data. Grounded theory involves the application of induction.

Research Sample

The study included 33 students (20 women and 13 men) from the Arab minorities in Israel studying education in an academic college located in the center of Israel. All the students enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in education for elementary school. Their ages ranged from 19 to 50 years old. Twenty-two students come from the central area of Israel, eight from the south of the country, and three from the north. Two criteria determined the participants’ selection: their willingness to participate in an interview that could take time, and we were seeking for Arab students from both traditional village and urban communities of origin who studied in the Arabic education system prior to college. The academic college was selected because it is a multicultural academic institution providing a welcoming and adaptive learning environment for Israel’s largest minority student populations, including men and women from ultra-orthodox, Ethiopian and Arab backgrounds.

Research Methodology and Instruments

The study was based on the qualitative paradigm of data collection and analysis, which allows for a profound and comprehensive description of a phenomenon, its complexity, and the context in which it occurs (Stake, 2005). The study employed semi-structured in-depth interviews, which enable a great deal of flexibility and space for spontaneous interaction, along with a clear definition of the main issues the interview aims to explore (Patton, 2002).

Data Collection Procedure

In the first stage, three students were selected for a pilot study using a snowball strategy. The rationale for undertaking the pilot was to test an interview protocol and it was also hoped that any other practical issues and difficulties could be discovered and resolved before the main study began. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the academic college, and each lasted between 40 and 55 minutes. Member checking was used for requesting verification, amendments, and feedback on the pilot process.

Modifications were derived from the results of the pilot study. The pilot helped us to improve the interview rubric; for example, some questions were rephrased, sequentially aligned, and two key questions were added to the complete interview to allow the elicitation of high quality data from the participants’ responses. From the pilot study, we also learned that the interview should not exceed 45 minutes and certainly ought to consider the busy timetable of the participants.

In the second stage, during their second year of studies for the undergraduate degree in education, students were asked to participate in our study interview. The actual interview contained open questions beginning with general questions, later on evolving to more specific questions. Initially, interviewees were asked to share personal details about themselves and were then asked: “Why did you choose to study for a degree in education? What was your personal dream regarding this choice?” “Tell me about an educational figure you remember positively from your years at school. What made this person exceptional from your point of view? In what ways would you like to be similar to this person? Following this, interviewees were asked to describe the effect this exceptional educational figure had had on them. The interviews were conducted at the academic college premises; each interview lasted between 30 and 45 minutes. After receiving their final grades for the course, the students were asked if their interviews could be used for research purposes. Every interviewee who agreed signed a consent form after he or she had seen the transcribed interview. Only then were the interviews translated into English. The study was officially approved by the academic college’s ethics committee.

Data Analysis

The data underwent content analysis, a procedure that searches for prominent and meaningful elements that recur in the data. The data analysis was performed as recommended by Marshall and Rossman (1995). In the first stage, each interview was analyzed individually after being read. In the second stage, a comparative analysis was drawn between the interviews, in order to find common patterns. Classifying the data into major themes was the core of the main conclusions arrived at by the end of the process. In the final stage, we read the interviews more meticulously; each relevant paragraph was encoded to a certain category, with a note of the number of the interview from which it was extracted. The final themes were selected according to the contents that emerged from the findings. Following the advice of Denzin and Lincoln (2000), a computer software program was utilized to offer assistance in coding the data. Specifically, we used the Atlas.Ti qualitative data analysis computer program as it is a powerful software package that allows for qualitative analysis of large bodies of textual data. Atlas.Ti was utilized to verify and assist with the accuracy of determining the number and percentage of participation that corresponded within each of the major themes.

Quality Assurance

The participants had the opportunity to review the transcriptions at the end of the entire data collection to ensure accuracy and provide additional research data. Peer debriefing was used to provide feedback and to verify evolving interpretations of the study.

Findings

The findings are divided into sections according to the two basic research questions. The first section deals with students’ perceptions of the character of the exemplary teacher and the second deals with the exemplary teachers’ influence over the students as future educators.

A. Students’ Perceptions of the Character of the Exemplary Teacher

Three main themes were extracted from the interviewees’ responses concerning the character of exemplary teachers: experts in their field who teach “differently” (27 students); teachers who devote time to students beyond the requirements of their job (21 students); and teachers who are mentors (18 students).

Experts in Their Field Who Teach “Differently”

The majority of the interviewees reported that exemplary teachers are those who master the material being taught and teach the material in different ways from the other teachers, which helps students understand the material better. The teachers use learner-centered methods for teaching and become a resource rather than an authority. They are like instructors that play a dual role as learners as well, when learning new things in the process of teaching. Student Riham recounted how the teacher combined his great knowledge and his teaching from a place of love, using complementary methods rather than one method: “He used role plays in lessons, brainstorming to encourage student’s ideas to flow freely, and created classroom games that made learning fun. He always encouraged us to read Arabic literature out of love and to expand our knowledge.”

The teachers were mentioned as clearly having a strong love of teaching and that is how the interviewees explained the teachers’ attitude toward them and the interesting teaching methodology that rendered the learning meaningful. It seems that these teachers were intrinsically motivated to choose this profession, and not for lack of choice, as opposed to the many Arab academics described in the studies by Al-Haj (2003).

Devoting Time to Students Beyond the Requirements of the Job

Many of the interviewees remembered the teachers for their great investment in their students, which exceeded the official job description, and relations with their students were not restricted to the school campus. They tried to get to know their students in a wide variety of activities and contexts and their relationship was personal. The interviewees repeated that the teacher’s personal approach gave them a sense of close friendship. For example, this is what Anis said about her teacher:

The teacher who taught us history and civics would give us the feeling that he was our closest friend. He accompanied us on field trips and laughed with us. He would consult the class before deciding anything about us. He supported us.

The teachers’ actions that exceeded the requirements of the job were expressed in spending personal time on a voluntary basis, not just during the school day, but often after school hours. This was how Nadir described it: “He was available. He always made time to meet anyone who wanted help or had questions about difficulties they had encountered. He would concern himself with us during his break; he would help and explain if we approached him.”

A Mentor, Facilitator, and Supporter

Over half of the interviewees mentioned the support the exemplary teachers had given them and the personal connection created between them. Thanks to this connection, the teachers touched their hearts and helped them fulfill their potential. The teachers were described as presenting the students with a mirror, allowing them to experience self-discovery. The new image they saw enabled them to discover new abilities. Sometimes the teachers’ support for the students stemmed from the teachers’ own judgment and contrary to the system’s instructions. Muiz described his homeroom teacher’s behavior in grade 11:

She didn’t agree with the principal’s instructions to have me expelled, because she knew how much I was struggling and what difficulties I was going through. Although I was the most gifted child in the class, I was also the most problematic. Thanks to her, I did take the matriculation exams.

From the interviewees it is evident that the teachers’ verbal support, their words of encouragement, was highly important to them. Some of these statements accompany them even in adulthood, as Nizan said: “He always told us that failure can help us succeed. If you fail, you should be happy, because there is probably an opportunity here for reexamination and to be better and more successful."

The research literature points to the tremendous impact of teachers’ words of wisdom on the formation of students’ identity—the teachers raise the students’ self-image and give them a sense of value (Ilaiyan, 2012). Moreover, they continue to accompany the students throughout their lives, even when they reach academia (Yair, 2008).

B. Exemplary Teachers’ Influence over the Students as Future Educators

The responses emerging from the analysis of the interviews indicate five main themes regarding the influence of exemplary teachers on the interviewees: dedicating time to the student (21 students); believing in the student’s abilities (20 students); accepting diversity (19 students); expertise and innovation in teaching (18 students); and personal treatment (14 students). All the interviewees indicated that they want to resemble these teachers and behave like them in the future.

Devoting time to pupils beyond the requirements of the job

Many of the interviewees spoke of their desire to invest in their students beyond what is customary and beyond the requirements of the task incumbent upon them. Some expressed interest in doing so during school hours. For example, Awad said:

In the future when I’m a teacher I want to be just like him. I want to treat students like my own children and make sure they succeed. I won’t leave any student not understanding something. I will help them and sit with them during my break so that they will succeed.

Others indicated they would also help their students outside of school hours and the school premises. Here, for example, is what Duaa said:

I’ll be like [the exemplary teacher] in almost everything. The most important thing is to be close to the students, to help, to support and to take care of them even after school hours. To always be there for them.

From the quotes we can learn about the influence of teachers from the interviewees’ past, who invested in students beyond what is common. Such teachers create key experiences for students and help them fulfill their personal potential (Yair, 2006). Just like them, interviewees are interested in investing in their students and not in limiting their relationship with the students to school hours only.

Belief in the Students’ Abilities

Many of the interviewees spoke of their hope that their students would know they believed in them and know of their desire to act in a way that would lead students to discover what they are capable of. They want to follow in their teachers’ footsteps and tell their students something that will strengthen them. Mahdi described the teacher thanks to whom he managed to earn a matriculation certificate:

Like that teacher, I want to believe in my students, to be with them right through to the end and not to give up. I would bring every child’s positive traits to light, like she did with me. Even though everyone said that I would amount to nothing, she came and told me that I had to change and that I could. Thanks to her, I have a full matriculation certificate.

The interviewees described the teachers who believed in their abilities and also wanted to give their own students the opportunity to express themselves and feel more confident in their abilities in class. This is similar to the findings presented in Ilaiyan’s (2012) study, which dealt with key experiences in Arab society. Ilaiyan found that for the Arab graduates, the person who created the most meaningful experience for them was usually a teacher with an openness that enabled students to express themselves, even if they sometimes made mistakes in their answers, in order to let them feel more confident about their abilities in class.

Accepting Diversity

Over half of the interviewees hoped that their students would see that they accept their diversity. Just like the exemplary teachers in their past, they also believe that equal opportunity should be given to all. Thus, Zaki said:

I would very much like to be like my teacher Mahmoud in terms of his attitude toward the students; his concern for the students’ success and not failing them without a reason, and not discriminating against them in a racist manner based on religion or gender.

The way the exceptional teachers from their past treated them made them want to be teachers who are pluralistic, open, flexible, and able to adapt themselves to diversity. According to Frankenstein’s educational approach (Schatz-Oppenheimer, 2006), flexible and adaptive teachers are responsive teachers. Teaching, according to this concept needs to be adapted to a heterogeneous class, where teachers must put into practice the principle of equality of educational opportunities.

Expertise and Innovation in Teaching

Over half of the interviewees said they were very impressed with their teachers’ expertise and knowledge of the material and said they wanted to be like them. They also stressed their desire to use diverse teaching methods to teach the curriculum in a way that arouses interest, discovery or inquiry, just as their teachers had done. For example, Nagi spoke of his desire to adopt teaching methods similar to those of a teacher from his past and be even more innovative:

I want to have the same extensive knowledge of whatever I teach and to know and use innovative teaching methods; to be more as an instructor to my students, use inquiry and interactive approaches with the use of technology in the classroom.

Shulman (1986) attached great importance to teacher knowledge and argued that teachers who are insufficiently familiar with the topic being taught cannot process the disciplinary content and influence their students. Shulman also attached great importance to the teacher’s pedagogical knowledge, viewing it as one of the most important tools for good teaching. By pedagogical knowledge he means the teachers’ ability to teach pupils so that they understand the material in the best possible way.

A Personal Attitude of Caring

Almost half of the interviewees expressed their desire to be attentive to their students and to accommodate their difficulties. The interviewees said that they wanted to show personal attention, but not to give up on academic achievements. Belha said she wanted to develop a rapport with the students and support them, just as one of the teachers did at the school where she had studied:

I would like to be like her and love my students and be interested in them; to be like a friend like her and not like a teacher, to be close to all the students in the class and to help them always; to have a personal approach to the students; to understand them and be patient; to encourage students whenever possible, to listen to them and give them an opportunity to speak while understanding their personal problems.

In the literature, there is great emphasis on how necessary it is to have teachers who care about success at school (Lumpkin, 2007). Noddings (2007) discussed the relationship between teachers and students and argued that teachers’ concern for students is one of the important features of the educational process and the students’ growth. She emphasized that, first and foremost, teachers must be caring. They must be committed to their students and address their two basic needs: emotional and intellectual.

Implications and Recommendations

The research findings have important practical implications, revealing a number of insights about the study of education in multicultural institutions. Based on the findings, certain needs can be elicited: developing Arab students’ pedagogical knowledge, highlighting exposure to up-to-date educational approaches and looking into different interpretations of what is a good teacher and good teaching; the academic teaching staff should be familiar with the society the Arab students come from and let them understand that it is permissible to change the traditional approach that has prevailed in the Arab education system. Moreover, inspectors and head teachers should encourage novice teachers in the Arab education system, which is already undergoing changes, to think originally and independently, to be open to allowing their students to express themselves, to set them challenges, and help them each discover their particular talents. It is therefore recommended, especially for teacher training institutes, to provide future teachers with the means to mentor their students, such as expertise in dialogic teaching and the skills of lifelong learning. It is also recommended that future teachers be exposed to innovative teaching methods with emphasis on the use of relevant technologies. In terms of future research, we recommend investigating the perceptions of teacher training staff members of exemplary teachers.