Between survival and vision: Boundary-crossing Arab teachers in Jewish schools and Arab teachers in their community

This mixed-methods study examined the experiences of belonging/otherness among Arab teachers in Israel. A group of boundary-crossing teachers: Arab teachers in Jewish schools (AJ; N = 57) was compared with Arab teachers teaching in their own community (AA; N = 103). We found that the AJ group had a multicultural orientation, unlike the AA group, who were community-orientated. These orientations are reflected in different otherness sources, different motivations for selecting a workplace, and differences in identity ratings. While professional and social sources promoted teachers’ sense of belonging in the two groups, the source of AJs' sense of otherness was the national divide as opposed to community-oriented aspects in AAs. Selfefficacy ratings were high in both groups with a significant advantage for AJs, an unanticipated finding given that most of them were women, had attended teacher training colleges rather than universities, and were rarely homeroom teachers. Arab teachers' involvement in Jewish schools was partial with a low proportion of classroom educators or teachers in managerial roles. AJs tend to leave their national identity outside the school, and are not involved in political discourse or in the staffroom power relations. The phenomenon of integrating AJs is relatively new, and within a segregated education system that limits the opportunities for Jews and Arabs to meet, it can provide a viable, albeit limited, tool to inhibit prejudice and antagonism between Jews and Arabs.     

Designing for communication at work: A case for technology-enhanced boundary objects

In this article we conceptualise the challenges of communication between a mortgage company and its customers in terms of crossing boundaries between communities. Through an ethnographic study we first address the question: what are the challenges of communication between sales agents and customers of a mortgage company around mathematical artefacts? Insight into these challenges formed the basis for an intervention in which we designed technology-enhanced boundary objects (TEBOs) that were reconfigurations of problematic symbolic artefacts. Secondly, we ask what the sales agents learned from the intervention. The data suggest that the intervention with the TEBOs helped employees to develop a better understanding of the mathematics behind the mortgages they sold, and to improve communication with their customers.     

A transdisciplinary evaluation framework for the assessment of integration in boundary-crossing collaborations in teacher education

This study provides a) an evaluative framework for boundary-crossing collaboration in teacher education which is inspired by the discourse of transdisciplinarity. In addition, it offers b) empirical insights about so-called Transdisciplinary Development Teams, which comprise practitioners, researchers, and student teachers. The framework bases on (1) epistemic, (2) social, and (3) organisational integration characteristics such as (1a) mutual learning, (1b) knowledge integration, (2a) perceived trustworthiness, (2b) appreciation within the team, and (3a) collective ownership of goals. Drawing on a written survey with n = 62 participants, the empirical study provides findings on three research questions. First, all dimensions of integration characteristics have been rated high on average. Second, the results of a one-way ANOVA establish that the main actor groups perceive the work in Transdisciplinary Development Teams as integrative with regard to previously stated characteristics. Third, the analysis of a manifest path model substantiates theoretically assumed effect relationships. Subsequently, transdisciplinary dimensions of integration characteristics appear suitable for assessing boundary-crossing collaboration in teacher education.