"Joint Citizenship”- the Multicultural Program for the Matriculation ("Bagrut") in Civics"

The multicultural program for matriculation in civics is an innovative biannual program that is done in the formal framework of the Ministry of Education “TAMAR” program.

This program is a peak in “A New Way” work and was created out of the deep knowledge and understanding we gained during more than 20 years of activity in the official education system.

Despite the many inherent challenges, working through multicultural studies in the field of civics is natural for us and probably has the biggest chance to create a real and wide change in the Jewish - Arab relations in Israel.

This program combines three complementary elements

Informal workshops reduce concerns and stereotypes and create a strong basis of familiarity that is needed to develop shared and collaborative learning.

Innovative formal lessons are based on joint research and examination of diverse civic issues.

Multicultural leadership is formed by a direct personal experience in active citizenship. Our students do not learn only from the board or books, they learn from their own experience by having a direct encounter with the “other”, dealing together with different civic issues.

The Biannual Process

The first year focuses on Informal workshops & formal lessons

It includes 44 additional academic hours

The formal lessons centers on:

• Political source & political cartoons analysis

• Civil problem formulation

• Research tools

At the peak of the year, the students are tested side by side in the only formal multicultural matriculation in Israel.

The second year focuses on formal lessons & multicultural 

leadership

It includes 22 additional academic hours

The formal lessons center on:

•  Joint research of a civic challenge

•  Joint presentation

At the peak of the process, the students are required to do a final project together while the goal is to increase awareness of the challenge they chose.

This program offers the first model in Israel that allows joint study for official matriculation. The students receive their final matriculation grade as part of the achievements they made in the program, this program is not an enrichment framework, this is the official educational framework that has the potential to create an internal systemic change.The pilot phase has now ended, and we are entering the first expansion phase following the official approval of the Ministry of Education.