תפיסות של תלמידים במגזר הערבי והיהודי את האקלים הבית ספרי – פערים בדיווחי תלמידים בסקרים בהשוואה למציאות בבתי הספר

Quantitative research and surveys on perceptions of school climates reveal a contradictory phenomenon: Despite findings of greater involvement in violence, risk behaviors, and covert dropout from school among Arab adolescence, compared to Jewish students of the same age, and despite the students’ dissatisfaction with their teachers’ behaviors in many areas – perceptions of school climate are more positive in the Arab sector than in the Jewish sector. This study therefore aims at examining the gap between research findings and school reality in relation to the social sensitivity of the Arab sector towards school as an institute and toward teachers as professionals. The research included 16 focus groups with students aged 11-17 (eight from the Arab sector and eight from the Jewish secular and religious sectors). In the Arab sector, the gap between the positive and negative themes regarding school climate perceptions was much larger than in the Jewish sector, especially regarding their sense of belonging to the school, studentteacher relationships, relationships among students, and rules. Students in the Arab sector mainly described experiencing negative emotions at school which lead to thoughts about leaving. They also expressed discomfort with teachers’ attitudes, abuse of students, intolerance, insensitivity, lack of listening and unresponsiveness to requests, as well as discrimination based on the family/clan background. However, the “respect for teachers and school” variable neutralized these difficult feelings. This finding leads to thoughts about the role of their parents’ home and environment with regards to the students’ perceptions.