Teaching Controversial Issues in a Disputed Region: The Case of the Golan Heights

Orly Ganany-Dagan, Anat Kidron, Shmuel Shamai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The study of controversial issues in schools has been discussed extensively. There is less understanding of pedagogies addressing these issues in controversial geographic areas. This study examined approaches to teaching controversial issues in Golan Heights schools from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. Analysis of materials from five elementary schools showed strategies avoiding engagement with controversy. This approach compromises democratic values and hinders public discourse. The findings provide insights for developing democratic participation among youth as future citizens and may inform democratic participation in other controversial regions.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10567879251380253
JournalInternational Journal of Educational Reform
DOIs
StateAccepted/In press - 2025
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Keywords

  • Golan Heights
  • avoidance
  • controversial area
  • teaching controversial issues

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

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