Emotional responses of leaders, teachers, and parents from a religious community to a new governmetnal policy

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Abstract

This study explored the emotions of ultra-Orthodox Jewish school members and stakeholders during the introduction of a new governmental policy aimed at introducing a new curriculum. This society is highly religious and its main purpose is to conserve God's commandments and avoid modernity. Based on interviews with eight school principals, 16 teachers and 16 parents whose children attend schools that adopted the new curriculum, it was found that the policy implementation evoked both negative and positive emotions among our interviewees (e.g., fear, anxiety, contempt and indifference alongside happiness and enthusiasm in response to the reform). Their emotions are related to conservative religious values, potential transgression, and the centrality of religious studies in the ultra-Orthodox society.

Authors

• Chajim Erlanger, Tel Aviv University

• Izhar Oplatka, Tel Aviv University