The Palestinian Curriculum and European Foreign Aid: The Challenges to Preserve National Content

Abstract

The continuous and controversial arguments about any relationship between foreign aid and the national content of the learned curricula in new and emerging entities in post-conflict areas in general, and in the Palestinian case in particular, have been a source of apprehension for many educators, stakeholders, educational experts, and even school children’s parents. This study aims at investigating the challenges to preserve authentic national and historical content in the light of receiving European foreign aid, taking Palestine as a case. The researcher adopted a mixed-methods approach to achieve the study’s goals. The national content of the school textbooks of the lower basic stage was analysed as a purposive sample of the Palestinian national curriculum. Moreover, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a) curriculum professionals and policymakers from the Ministry of Education to find out the direct impact of European aid on the national content of the Palestinian curriculum, and b) with Palestinian teachers to investigate their attitudes towards the adequacy and efficiency of the national and historical content of the Palestinian curriculum. The results of the content analysis present many national themes and values, yet with diverse dominance and distribution. The semi-structured interviews revealed the continuous pressure on the Ministry of Education to change the content of Palestinian curricula, and its impact on the national content. As for the teachers’ interviews, the results demonstrate that Palestinian teachers do not have positive perspectives on the national and historical content and look forwards to fundamental improvements in the national and historical curriculum.