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This paper's purpose is to tell the life‐stories of four women who succeeded in forging paths to senior positions as principals in Arab schools in Israel and to describe the personal, professional and sociopolitical contexts of their principalship.

This is part of a larger research effort that explored the issue of Arab women managers. Open interviews were conducted with four women principals, employing a narrative approach to study career development and managerial style.

The stories indicate that these women act as progressive models for Arab society that has not yet recognized women leaders as a social norm. The source of these women's empowerment can be found in their personal backgrounds. These women have created a new style of leadership in Arab schools. An outstanding feature of the principals' stories is the significant importance that they attribute to their relationships with teachers, students and parents.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to document the development of Arab women principals in Israel in their biographical, professional and sociological contexts. The paper provides insight into the educational and social contributions of women in senior positions in Israel's Arab educational system.

The purpose of this paper is to examine Arab teachers’ motivations and justifications for choosing a college for postgraduate studies.

During the academic year 2014, the authors administered questionnaires to 150 Arab teachers studying postgraduate courses at a peripheral all-Arab teacher-training college in order to investigate their motivations for engaging in postgraduate studies and their justifications for choosing this college.

Findings indicated that the strongest motivation expressed by the students is intrinsic: desires for self-fulfillment and further education. Aspirations for social mobility also motivate the Arab teachers, while professional development is of less importance. Convenience (proximity to home and employment prospects while studying) determines the justification to choose this college. The reputation of the college was of less importance. Correlation and predictive tests reveal no connection between the level of intrinsic motivations and factors for choosing this college. Extrinsic motivations positively correlate with the justifications of convenience and reputation.

The conclusion is that for the Arab teachers, the possibility to pursue postgraduate studies at a peripheral all-Arab teacher-training college near home answers the needs of those looking for professional development.

The paper contributes to the authors’ understanding of teachers’ choice of a higher education institution for their postgraduate studies and professional developement.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the factors that attract (pull) or discourage (push) Palestinian students from Israel (PSI) to study at a Palestinian university, the Arab American University in Jenin (AAUJ), for the first time since the establishment of Israel in 1948.

A qualitative research method using in-depth interviews with 15 PSI who study at AAUJ attempts to define the motivations behind PSI preferring AAUJ, on one hand, and constraints, on the other hand.

The findings of the study show factors that attract PSI to study at the AAUJ and what subjects they choose to study there, the encounter with a similar culture and nationalism in a Palestinian campus in the occupied West Bank; the most significant difficulties and impediments they face there, whether economic or political, are discussed. This paper contributes to an understanding of the new national re-encounter between two Palestinian groups in a university campus, one under Israel’s occupation and the other that has Israeli citizenship.

It is a unique phenomenon in the trends of international students’ mobility in the world.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of parental involvement among 317 teachers in the Arab education system in Israel.

A questionnaire measured teachers’ attitudes regarding parents’ involvement in the school relating to pedagogy, resources, and control.

The findings show that Arab teachers perceive parents’ involvement as related to pedagogy and resources rather than control. In addition, the research results revealed that young teachers in terms of age, and seniority of teaching, and teachers who are not members of the management team demonstrated a stronger perception of the pedagogy and control components than did older and senior teachers and teachers who are members of the management team. However, older and senior teachers and teachers who are members of the management team had a stronger perception that parental involvement related to resources than did young teachers and teachers who are not members of the management team.

Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

The paper contributes to our understandings of the different components that affect parental involvement in developing and minority societies.