ABSTRACT
Teacher education toward pluralism, to the extent that it is practised by institutions of teacher training and in various frameworks of in-service teacher education, is mainly the outcome of voluntary efforts of many organizations and groups. This chapter contends that the cross-cut cleavages of Israeli society prevent an overall coherent policy of multicultural teacher education, due to specific considerations regarding each cleavage. Furthermore, in 1994 the Ministry introduced a new school-based teacher education programme which enables all schools, on a voluntary basis, to set up their own programme of in-service teacher training. The initial enthusiasm of the teachers themselves has been eroded by the continuous influx of immigrant students, insufficient resources and support, and classroom difficulties in bringing the veteran and immigrant students together. Though such problems may gradually recede as the acculturation of these immigrant students proceeds, the case demonstrates the absence in general of a clear-cut policy on teacher education toward multicultural immigrant absorption.
