Maltreatment of primary school students by educational staff in Israel

OBJECTIVES: This paper reports on the prevalence of emotional and physical maltreatment of students in primary schools by school staff in Israel. Victimization by staff was analyzed according to students' gender, age group (4th, 5th, and 6th grade), cultural group (Jewish-non-religious, Jewish-religious, and Arab schools), school characteristics (school size and class size), and by socio-economic status of the students' families. METHOD: Data were obtained from a nationally representative sample of 5472 students in Grades 4-6 in 71 schools across Israel. The students completed questionnaires during class, which included a scale for reporting physical and psychological maltreatment by staff. Data on the socio-economic status of the families of the students in each school were also obtained. RESULTS: Students reported generally high rates of maltreatment by staff members. Almost a third reported being emotionally maltreated by a staff member, and more than a fifth (22.2%) reported being a victim of at least one type of physical maltreatment. The most vulnerable groups for maltreatment were males, students in Arab schools, and students in schools with a high percentage of students from low-income and low-education families.CONCLUSIONS: These high rates of primary school students' victimization by staff are unacceptable. We recommend educational campaigns among teachers, as well as allocating more resources to support staff in low socio-economic neighborhoods.     

The effects of explicit teaching of metastrategic knowledge on low- and high-achieving students

This study assessed the effects of explicit teaching of metastrategic knowledge (MSK) on gains of low-achieving (LA) and high-achieving (HA) 5th grade students (N = 41). Gains in reasoning scores of students from the Experimental group (compared to students from the control group) were obtained on the strategic and on the metastrategic level. Gains were preserved in near and far transfer tasks immediately after the end of instruction and 3 months later. Explicit teaching of MSK affected both LA and HA students, but it was extremely valuable for LA students who required a longer period than HA students to reach their top score.     

Increasing interest in social studies: Social perspective taking and self-efficacy in stimulating simulations

This study examined the potential of simulations to bolster interest in middle school social studies classrooms. Using a pre–post-design, we examined 305 middle school students (49% female) who participated in the web-based GlobalEd simulation. In contrast to the motivation declines middle school students usually experience, participants in this simulation became more interested in social studies. We investigated four hypotheses as to why these increases may have occurred. We found no support for the possibility that, (a) students’ interest in a particular issue area or (b) their increased valuing of the subject matter, were related to their increased interest. However, results suggested that, (c) the challenging nature of the activity and (d) students’ increased propensity to engage in social perspective taking may have bolstered their interest in social studies. The discussion explores future research directions and whether implications for classroom teachers are warranted given the correlational nature of the research.     

Cognitive and metacognitive determinants of eyewitness memory accuracy over time

Metacognition and Learning - In the present study, we investigated the accuracy of eyewitness accounts over time from a metacognitive perspective, in which post-retrieval monitoring and control...     

The Collective Memory of a Civil War as Reflected in Edutainment and its Impact on Israeli Youth: A Critical Reading of Consensual Myths

Following the political assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in 1998 Israel's national theater Habimah produced the play “Civil War.” The play addressed the religious/hawkish-secular/dovish rift in Israel through a critical reading of events from Jewish history and raises the potential of civil war and political violence in Israel over Israeli-Palestinian peace. An empirical study of 107 Israeli students from the 11th grade who viewed the play presents the potential of “Civil War” to influence students and lead them to a critical reading of consensual myths of the Jewish historical/cultural texts and current events.