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Integrating human values in

education for promoting tolerance

Dr Ruwaida Abu Rass, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization Chair in Multiculturalism in Teacher Training, Beit Berl College, Israel

alues are the main beliefs that people use for deter-

mining what is right or wrong, good or bad, fair

or unfair. As a result, human values such as toler-

ance, respect and cooperation affect people’s personal

perceptions and judgements, motives and actions towards

others in different situations in varying cultures, societies

and religions. Due to their importance in shaping people’s

lives and relations in a positive way, there is a need to

consider them in education at all levels. This means that

incorporating human values in education should not be

restricted to schools, but should be considered in post-

secondary school educational institutions such as teacher

training colleges and even universities.

The aim of including human values in English as a Foreign

Language (EFL) instruction is to qualify student teachers not

only professionally and academically, but also humanly since

they live in a deeply divided society, ethnically and politically,

which suffers from increasing violence either at school or in

the street. Lately many cases of violence – not only pupils

against pupils, but also pupils against teachers – have been

reported in the press, in Jewish schools particularly. Similarly,

violence cases that end with killings have increased dramati-

cally in Arab towns and villages in Israel. Some young people

solve disputes with others through the rifle.

Israeli society is not only deeply divided ethnically, but also

polarized economically. Besides the ethnic divisions, there is a

lack of social solidarity among the different ethnic groups.

The

divisions are witnessed not only between Arabs and Jews in Israel,

but also among the different ethnic groups in Jewish society itself.

The Jewish population in Israel is constituted not only from

traditional groups such as the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews,

but also from other ethnic groups like Ethiopians and Russians

or immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Divisions among

the latter group between Jews and non-Jews also exist. Moreover,

there is a clear division between the religious Jewish groups and

the secular mainstream population. Furthermore, there has been

a lot of tension lately in some cities in Israel between the Israeli

citizens and African refugees. Therefore, there is a need for civic

education in a democratic country.

Civic education includes values that promote understand-

ing, sympathy and acceptance among the members of different

ethnic groups. At the local level, Arab and Jewish students share

a space by studying together in the campus, where these student

teachers are trained to become English teachers. In the global

context, student teachers should be well qualified to cope with

The Tunnel of Time project: a 1940s Arab coffee shop in Jaffa, with a menu written in Arabic and Hebrew and period clothes for both groups on display

Images: Beit Berl College, 2013

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