Pluralism and Perspective Diversity in Israeli Educational Policies Towards Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union

Educational policies and practices in Israel for former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants were examined by ethnic relation models. Close to a million immigrants entered Israel during the last decade and established cultural and social organizations and networks. In the formal education system the change has been in the rhetoric, which ranges from assimilatory to pluralistic. No official social and cultural guidelines have been implemented in the schools which have been left to deal with the situation alone, and in most cases the daily practices and policies are managed on the classroom level. Although no one model accommodates the views of the immigrants and the veterans, overall no symmetry exists between the two groups’ views. No unique ethnic relation model exists, but rather a “multi-model pluralism” is evident. However, for the most part the Russian culture is not legitimized in the formal education system. Therefore, some of the immigrants opt out of the formal educational system and are being pushed from “cultural pluralism” to a more separatist stand of “institutional pluralism”.