The Ideal Path: Acquiring Education and Gaining Respect for Parents from the Perspective of Arab-Bedouin Students

4.1 The Challenges of Women in the Arab-Bedouin Society

Arab-Bedouin female students between the ages of 18 and 25 experience changes in all human aspects: physical, social, mental, and emotional. The accepted social approach sees young adulthood as an important stage toward an independent adult life, in which the adolescent builds her personality, frees herself from her parents’ dependence, establishes new relationships with her friends, and even marries at a relatively young age. Socially, their development lasts throughout their lives, as their personality is shaped by their environment. Women develop their personality through the interaction with their environment and friends. A psychological school known as the “personal approach” sees the physical changes of the adolescent as the main cause of mental problems and difficulties during this period, although this is not the only explanation for mental issues in adolescence (Erikson, 1994).

Recent studies highlight the significance of both socio-familial support and educational attainment in the advancement of Bedouin women (Abu-Gweder, 2022; Ben-Asher, 2020). Abu-Gweder (2023) further elaborates that the academic achievements of Bedouin women are greatly influenced by their capability to form learning groups within their educational institutions and by parental assistance at home.

Personal identity is shaped in many areas, including professional, social, political, and sexual ones. As long as the adolescent is in a searching phase, he or she perceives the world as unstable, unpredictable, and perhaps not particularly appealing. Moreover, the adolescent believes that the world and society need urgent improvement and aspire to replace the existing “system” (“You and I will change the world”), but despite their harsh criticism, they cannot really change their environment fundamentally. This requires developing a self-identity, a willingness to compromise. The choice they have between different options is limited, and they make their decisions accordingly. These are new processes for them (Al-Said, 2015).

Young people in the Arab-Bedouin community differ from their surroundings, which is shifting from a traditional society to a society in transition (Abu-Saad, 1999). Thanks to these changes, youth are liberated from traditional values and are almost unrestricted by the social norms that used to govern many life aspects (Abu-Gweder, 2022). One of the most significant changes that young people have undergone in recent years is integrating into in Israeli society. Young adults today create social networks for themselves as they develop social ties with members of the opposite sex as an escape from the social reality in their parent society. Bedouins shift from a traditional society to a modern society through the social networks on the Internet (Abu-Gweder, 2022; Gribiea, 2013). Despite all these major changes, Arab-Bedouin women are still expected to maintain a traditional distance from men.

4.2 The Personal and Social Challenges of Arab-Bedouin Female Students

Choosing an academic track is a complex process. Most female Arab students in Israel choose teaching as their preferred profession, requiring them to meet serious challenges and prove themselves. They are faced with two substantial hurdles, as evidenced in the research literature and from personal experience. The first is the constant demand to challenge themselves and use their abilities, qualities, and preferences in the pedagogical activity (Katzir, Sagi, & Gilat, 2004). The second challenge, according to the research literature, is that the developmental motive in the students’ process of personal development lasts over time (Agbaria, 2013).

The motivations among female students in the Arab society for choosing teaching as a profession have been extensively researched. Three types of motives have been identified: motives for choosing teaching as a profession, as well as developmental and environmental motives (Beker & Levenberg, 2003). The research indicates that the intellectual motive is the strongest internal motive for choosing teaching. In addition, teaching is perceived by women in the Arab-Bedouin sector as a preferred profession that allows social and financial mobility, as well as creativity and social and personal expression, compared to women’s roles in their traditional society. Other studies maintain that Arab-Bedouin women’s choice in teaching has personal motives such as personal inspiration and seeking professional pleasure and satisfaction. The study of Beker and Levenberg (2003) reinforces the personal motive, rating the professional challenge, motivation, and love of the profession as the “strongest motives” in choosing teaching.

In older studies, we find important personal motives among the Arab-Bedouin women who choose teaching. A study conducted more than three decades ago identified personal motivations such as convenience, perceiving teaching as appropriate for women, and parents’ influence, as well as emotional motives such as love for students, caring about them, and wishing to give them confidence and positive feelings (Ilian, 2013).

In the studies conducted in Israel, the researchers rated four important motives for choosing teaching. First and foremost, we find the personal motives: convenience, perceiving teaching as appropriate for women, and parents’ influence were rated first. Second came the emotional motives: love for students, caring about them, and wishing to give them confidence and positive feelings. A third motive is perceiving teaching as a challenging profession that develops thinking, organization, and order and allows the socio-cultural world of the child to be understood. The fourth motive related to early experiences of success in school and the memory of a teacher who provided a corrective experience of previous failure and frustration and brought about a change in the student’s attitude toward the teaching profession (Ilian, Zeidan, & Toren, 2007).

From the research literature, we learn that teaching students also face socio-economic challenges. A unique study conducted among female students in the Arab education system found that female students chose teaching in order to gain better status and social mobility in their traditional society and provide economic security to their family of origin (Ilian et al., 2007).

The environmental challenges are closely related to the socio-economic background of the family and influence Arab women’s professional choices. Ilian (2013) noted that the opportunities a family provides to a child help to form his or her professional identity. These opportunities are affected by the family’s socio-economic situation, thus professional identity is influenced by the financial status, the educational positions, and the achievements of the children.

According to the research literature concerning minority groups in Israel, particularly the Arab-Bedouin minority, the family has a major influence on the individual’s decision-making, since it is considered the primary socialization agent for the individual. The influence of a family significantly shapes an individual’s growth, such as in the opportunities it affords them. Students’ professional paths are affected by both the social change that took place in the Arab society and their own personal and professional change (Abu Aleon, Weinstock, Manago, & Greenfield, 2019). According to Berkowitz (2022), family income correlates with the professional aspirations of the children: adolescents from low-income families lower their academic and professional aspirations even when they have high skills. Interestingly, in this study, the economic motive was found to be less dominant in choosing the teaching profession. All in all, the economic factor is perceived as the most influential among students in academic institutions.

In the literature, it is reported that the rise in the level of education of Arab-Bedouins and the changing lifestyles of the family allow women more freedom to play important roles in the family’s decision-making process. Other studies have shown that the father was still the most significant figure in various life aspects such as choosing a profession, marriage, and other crucial decisions in the children’s lives; the “parents’ request or recommendation” factor and the “relative’s recommendation or persuasion” factor are the two major factors affecting the choice to become a teacher (Al-Haj, 2000). Similar findings can also be seen in the previous studies (2007), showing that among teachers-in-training in the Arab sector, the decision to become teachers followed the wishes of the family members.

4.3 The Study

The main research question addressed the social background of Arab-Bedouin female students. The research literature describes the perception of the personal–social positioning of Arab-Bedouin female students as a long and ongoing process that begins with the choice of profession and continues through academic studies (Abu-Gweder, 2022).

4.4 Methodological Aspects

The present study is a qualitative study that follows the constructive interpretive paradigm. Qualitative researchers seek to understand the studied phenomena as they are understood by those who take part in them. The goal of qualitative research is to stay as close as possible to the unique construction of participants’ world (Flick, 2017). Qualitative research focuses on the human experience of the individual in his or her natural environment and seeks to learn about a phenomenon from the individual’s world through the meanings and interpretations that he or she gives it (Patton, 2002). Qualitative research describes in detail and holistically the richness of phenomena, their dynamics, and their subjective interpretations. This view argues that the research is influenced by the values and the context in which it takes place and therefore emphasizes the relationship between the researcher and the researched – the knowing and the known – viewing it as an inseparable interaction (Creswell, 2008).

Since only a few studies have given voice to the difficulties of Arab-Bedouin female students, this study was conducted according to the constructive qualitative–interpretive paradigm to reveal their subjective experiences and examine how they cope with their studies.

4.5 Participants in the Study

The study involved 30 interviewees aged 19–25 who study in teaching-only colleges. The sample included 15 students from recognized villages and 15 from unrecognized villages.

4.6 Research Tool

The study was conducted through narrative interviews as described extensively in the literature (Gergen, Josselson, & Freeman, 2015). The analysis of the interviews was based on complete, detailed, and accurate narratives and was done by extracting key themes (Flick, 2017).

4.7 The Researcher’s Position in Qualitative Research

Shkedi (2003) argues that researchers in the qualitative approach cannot understand human action by taking the position of an external observer, who can only see the physical expressions of those actions. Instead, the researchers must strive to understand what the “actors” mean by their actions from their own perspectives (Sciarra, 1999).

Qualitative researchers observe from the inside, assimilating themselves into the social context and the minds of the subjects. I, the researcher, am a Bedouin, and as a member of this unique community, I am aware of its cultural codes and unique characteristics. Therefore, qualitative research allows me to tell the story and present the unique experiences of Arab-Bedouin female students in the academic world from their point of view and to expose myself as an external observer to this population. I have always been interested in researching the population in which I grew up, especially in light of its suffering as a minority within the Arab minority in the State of Israel, which endures economic, social, and geographical marginalization and exclusion (Shkedi, 2003).

Despite my familiarity with the topic of the research, I can discover new layers and learn fascinating stories about it, thanks to the chosen method. Through qualitative research, a semi-structured interview turned participants’ experiences into an initial source of knowledge through which we unveiled new findings that were otherwise unknown, contributing to the scant theoretical and empirical knowledge that exists.

4.8 Recruiting Participants

Participants were recruited by approaching students in the teaching tracks with the help of faculty members in the education departments. At the initial stage, the recruitment of these respondents was done through inquiries to institutions and lecturers, and later the researcher recruited more participants through a method called “snowball,” in which each interviewee leads to other interviewees (Chase, 2005).

4.9 Ethical Considerations

At the beginning of each interview, participants were guaranteed that their personal details would remain confidential and identifying names and events would not be published. All participants gave informed consent to participating in the study and agreed to the publishing of its findings. The study received the approval of the Ethics Committee of a recognized academic institution.

4.10 Research Process

The interviews in the study were conducted according to the qualitative, interpretive–constructive approach. In the last two decades, the paradigms of qualitative research have been increasingly accepted in sociological and education research as appropriate tools to examine the questions that concern these fields (Shkedi, 2003).

The interviews lasted between 45 and 60 min. Comments and reflections were recorded after each interview. The interviews focused on the positive and negative impact of the academic world on the Arab-Bedouin students and on their personal and social challenges. The framing questions were carefully constructed in accordance with previous articles and studies (Lev-Ari & Laron, 2014). In addition to the pre-prepared questions, additional questions were asked following the interviewees’ responses.

In constructing the questions, we integrated questions of different types, as presented by Shkedi (2003). Here are the main types of questions used:

A. Theoretical questions – these were the basic questions of the interview. Example: How do you think your academic status as Arab-Bedouin students trained for teaching might be improved?

B. Meaning questions – clarification questions. Example: In your opinion, what are your main challenges as Arab-Bedouin education students?

C. Comparative questions – refinement, description, or explanation. Example: Does your family help you to advance your goals or is it the college that provides more help?

D. Completion questions – points raised by the interviewees. Example: As you said, you are struggling financially. Who helps you the most in accessing equipment and the Internet, as you live in an unrecognized village?

G. Conflicting questions – confrontation with the interviewee’s words. Example: All the points you have raised describe difficulties and challenges, but there are those who claim that the burden of proof is on you. What do you say to that?

4.11 The Method of Interview Analysis

To hear the overt and covert voices of the students participating in the study, we incorporated Carol Gilligan’s method of analysis (Gilligan, 2015). As part of the analysis, we conducted repeated readings of the data. The first reading focused on the content that emerged from the stories – that is, on what participants said. The second reading focused on the positioning of participants as it emerged from their stories. That is, this reading focused on how the students positioned themselves in relation to other women from their community and to the dual context in which they live: the traditional Arab-Bedouin society on the one hand and the challenges of academia on the other.

5.1 Success as a Tribute to Supportive Parents

The interviews brought up serious challenges faced by the students before their admission to the college in terms of the nuclear and extended family. This study describes a substantial dilemma prior to their academic learning. On the one hand, the nuclear family supports them both morally and financially, while on the other hand, the surrounding tribe casts doubt, especially when the student is first in her family.

My family would encourage me because my father is educated and he is very interested in academia and my mother would support me. But the rest of the family – referring to our relatives and neighbors – objected, especially since I am the first daughter in our family to go to academic studies. (Sara)

Arab-Bedouin female students do not ignore tribal and social customs relating to women’s modesty, family traditions, or respect for family and tribe. These actually increase their motivation to succeed and develop so that others do not question their decision. They thus continue to respect their parents and siblings in order to increase their status in their society.

I had a bit of a hard time at first because of the people who oppose the matter of studies and the craziest fear there was that these people would influence my parents, so I was committed to making a double effort. (Miriam)

To prove to everyone that I can succeed and maintain my respect and my family’s respect, especially since we are a traditional family and therefore success is first for the family and then for me. (Nora)

Moreover, the Arab-Bedouin students see higher education as both a personal and parental mission. Many students share their college experiences and difficulties with their parents and siblings. This allows them to study with confidence, contributing significantly to their success as teachers.

First of all, I maintained the values and norms of the society in which I live despite the development that took place in the learning environment. (Sujod)

In addition, I promised to talk to my father about what was happening to me so that he would always know what is going on. (Reem)

The experience of academia as reflected in the eyes of the interviewees meets important needs: on the one hand, they gain critical parental support for studying; on the other hand, they enjoy the academic space, which provides them with a source of freedom and escape from the social reality in their communities.

5.2 A Profession Suitable for Tradition

The study shows that the college provides the students with a unique opportunity to escape from the social–traditional reality in their society – a reality where the social order is decided by men. Men are also the breadwinners, which strengthens their traditional control of the household. Today women may rewrite a new reality of partnership in the household, as they facilitate the promotion of education within the home in new liberal professions such as nursing, medicine, and teaching.

Being an educated woman is important and even necessary, and the academic degree is financial security for the future. (Hiba)

Teaching is a good profession and there is no conflict with traditional values, mainly because the workplace is close to home, and even when it is outside the town, the work in this profession is done during the day. (Rana)

The social challenge is important for the Arab-Bedouin education students. Choosing teaching as their profession empowers them in their own society and helps them deal with its social–educational values.

I see the importance of learning this important profession because the investment will be appreciated both by the principal and the parents. Many parents will respect the hardworking and diligent teacher! (Samira)

In conclusion, the students’ sense of independence and self-realization is prominent in the present study due to unconditional parental support, which gives them academic backing to successfully complete their higher education.

5.3 Dual Social Culture

The entry of Arab-Bedouin female students into academia points to the potential for creating a new academic culture in the Bedouin society, alongside the traditional social culture.

You can both study and respect the values. In fact, women’s modesty and respect for parents and society are very basic, so if you are modest, you can definitely acquire education and a new social status, be a modest woman and an educated woman. (Nora)

Education is a significant personal experience. Every day you learn something new, difficult but very important. (Salwa)

In fact, the very entrance to an academic institution improves the students’ image in their own eyes and in the eyes of their community. In this study, the students reported the importance of higher education in their society and their increased confidence and sense of competence as a result of their college experience.

Personal example is important for the Arab-Bedouin students, not only for them but also for their sisters and friends. “I want to be a role model, because I am the eldest in the house and it is important for me that my seven sisters at home see success.”

Another aspect that arises from the present study is the connections with other Arab-Bedouin female students. The interviewees claimed that their peers were very important to them.

When I need help I turn to friends, sit in the library and study” (Maram). “Peer learning in academia is important. I always study and thanks to my friends I am more enlightened. (Abir)

In conclusion, the social–family aspect is a meaningful anchor for Arab-Bedouin students starting college. The support of their environment, both at home and in the college, is significant. In addition, their personal adjustment is highly meaningful for their success in academia.