This paper focuses on children of refugees and migrant workers from 48 countries who study together in one multicultural school in the city of Tel Aviv, Israel. The context of our study is the current ethos of globalisation and within it the phenomenon of vast migrations and creation of intercultural social realities. The aims of the study were to illustrate the principles, practices and dilemmas that form the very basis of the school culture, to let the special or ‘foreign’ voices of the children and the teaching staff be heard, and to identify the educational qualities that are responsible for the school’s success. In our research we employed both the method of qualitative case study and the philosophical interpretive discourse. On the basis of our observations, interviews and text analyses of the school’s educational manifesto, we suggested the following pedagogical virtues as the key factors responsible for the school’s extraordinary achievements: (1) a firm commitment to a humanist and multicultural stance; (2) a progressive and pragmatic dialectic approach regarding students’ empowerment, via social integration and academic success as well as via multicultural pedagogy; and (3) a dialectic pedagogical approach that stresses therapeutic-individualised teaching as well as challenging students to attain high academic standards. © 2014 British Association for International and Comparative Education.

Education Migration multiculturalism Migrant workers Refugees humanistic education

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