Internationalization of Secondary Education—Lessons From Israeli Palestinian-Arab Schools in Tel Aviv-Jaffa

Cosmopolitan capital became an integral ingredient in the set of competencies considered to provide a competitive edge for effective citizenship in the 21st century. Recently, internationalization of education became a more common phenomenon in secondary schools, serving as a tool to provide youth with cosmopolitan capital and relevant capabilities for the future. This research investigates the internationalization processes taking place in Palestinian-Arab secondary schools in Israel. Drawing on semistructured interviews with school principals and teachers, it identifies and characterizes the phenomenon of internationalization in schools. The findings reveal a complex, multidimensional behavior of school principals with regard to this process. Generally, principals support internationalization, although the scope, nature, and intensity of the international activities largely depend on schools’ contextual variables. The international dimension in Israeli Palestinian-Arabs schools was found to be closely related to political and national circumstances. The importance of this dimension in secondary education is depicted through the school principals’ and teachers’ views and opinions.