Encouraging professional excellence among social workers from disadvantaged minorities: Palestinians in Israel as a case study

Authors:
Ibrahim Mahajne Zefat Academic College and Beit Berl Academic College, Israel

Search for other papers by Ibrahim Mahajne in
Current site
Google Scholar
Close
and
Nuzha Allassad Alhuzail Sapir Academic College, Israel

Search for other papers by Nuzha Allassad Alhuzail in
Current site
Google Scholar
Close
Restricted access
Get eTOC alerts
Rights and permissions Cite this article

This article investigates the way in which disadvantaged minority social workers’ professional excellence is encouraged, drawing data from an analysis of primary documents and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 21 Palestinian welfare bureau managers in Israel. It finds that the Jewish voluntary sector is the sole player encouraging Palestinian minority social workers’ excellence, but its encouragement maintains the status quo regime, politicisation and alienation, and pushes towards neoliberalism. Most of the Palestinian welfare bureaus consciously prefer to avoid encouraging social workers’ excellence to avoid confrontation with the central government in the form of the Israeli Welfare Ministry. A small group of welfare bureaus sufficed with indirect encouragement, enlisting non-governmental organisations for the task because of the paucity of resources. A small number of bureaus that granted excellence certificates and a token gift applied three considerations. Excellence awards constituted a method for coping with the challenges facing Palestinian minority social work.

  • Ali-Saleh, D.N., Boehm, A. and Boehm-Tabib, E. (2022) Political involvement of social workers in majority and minority groups: comparison of Palestinian-Israelis and Jewish-Israelis, The British Journal of Social Work, 52(2): 90927, doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcab078.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Allassad Alhuzail, N. and Mahajne, I. (2021) Social work in a conflict context: challenges facing social workers with indigenous inhabitants of unrecognised villages in Israel, International Journal of Social Welfare, 30(1): 97105, doi: 10.1111/ijsw.12427.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Allassad-Alhuzail, N. and Mahajne, I. (forthcoming) ‘The sane voice in an insane situation’: the perspective of Arab social workers regarding the Arab–Jewish conflict, British Journal of Social Work, doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcad047.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ben Horin, Y. (2009) Cultivating excellence, Eureka, 28, 18 (in Hebrew).

  • Ben Peretz, M. (2020) Excellence and social equality: can they go together?, in Y. Harpaz and E. Horowitz (eds) Education at the Crossroads: Brainstorming on the Future of Education in Israel, Tel Aviv: Dvir, pp 301309 (in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2): 77101, doi: 10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Dushnik, L. (2011) Data analysis in qualitative research: a proposal for four guiding principles, Research Trails, 17: 13743 (in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Fisher, Y. (2007) Excellence in education: the theoretical model and its application, Studies in the Administration and Organization of Education, 29, 3153 (in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Freund, E., Zriker, E. and Abu-Younes, F. (2018) Social workers in social services departments in the Arab sector – commitment to political leadership or professional leadership – dilemmas, difficulties, and challenges, Society and Welfare, 58(1): 2352 (in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ghanem, A. and Mustafa, M. (2018) Palestinians in Israel: The Politics of Faith after Oslo, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Gladwell, M. (2009 [2008]) The Excellent Ones: What Constitutes Success S. Ripin (trans) Israel: Kinneret, Zmora Dvir Publishing (in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Hadad-Haj Yahya, N., Khlaile, M., Rodensky, A. and Fargeon, B. (2021) The Yearbook of the Arab Society in Israel, Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute (in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Horowitz, E. (2016) Excellence and the Israeli Character, Modiin: The Trump Foundation, https://trump.org.il/(in Hebrew).

  • Kasher, A. (2003) On excellence – in education, too, Al Hagovah, 2(48): 5148 (in Hebrew).

  • Knesset Israel (2016) Session 109 of the 10th Knesset Proceedings, 1 March, Jerusalem: Nevo, www.nevo.co.il/law_html/law140/20_109.htm(in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lincoln, Y. and Guba, E. (1985) Naturalistic Inquiry, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

  • Lincoln, Y., Lynham, S. and Guba, E. (2011) Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions and emerging confluences, revisited, in N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln (eds) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, London: Sage Publications, pp 97128.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. (2018) The development of social services for the Palestinian minority under Israeli state policies 1948–2017, in M. Mustafa (ed) 70 Years of Nakbah, Haifa: Mada al-Carmel – Arab Center for Applied Social Research, pp 98116.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. (2019) Development of social work in Arab society in Israel from the British Mandate to the end of the military regime, in J. Gal and R. Holer (eds) Justice Instead of Charity: Chapters in the Development of Social Work in Israel, Be’er Sheva: Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Ben Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, pp 24420 (in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. (2022a) Arab social workers’ burnout in welfare bureaus: expressions, reasons, implications and coping-mechanisms, The British Journal of Social Work, 52(7): 422341, doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcac016.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. (2022b) Minority social workers permanently leaving the profession: extent, motivations and implications, Critical and Radical Social Work, doi: 10.1332/204986022X16634304075954.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. (2023) Not on the agenda: investigatory notes on the institutionalised marginalisation of Arabs within the Israeli Social Workers’ Union, Critical and Radical Social Work, 11(1): 6378, doi: 10.1332/204986021X16557350524258.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. (forthcoming[a]) Minority group local government mayors and their relations with welfare bureau social workers, International Social Work, doi: 10.1177/00208728221150899.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. (forthcoming[b]) Regrets among social workers in welfare bureaus: different types and coping mechanisms, European Journal of Social Work, doi: 10.1080/13691457.2022.2154321.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. and Allassad Alhuzail, N. (2022) Culturally competent social work in Arab–Palestinian locality welfare bureaus in Israel: is it possible?, The British Journal of Social Work, 52(6): 336684, doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcab241.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. and Bar-On, A. (2021) Coming of age? On the professionalisation of social work in Israeli-Arab society in the new millennium, Critical and Radical Social Work, 9(2): 23752, doi: 10.1332/204986020X16031174884015.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. and Bar-On, A. (2022) Social work’s development in the indigenous Arab minority society in Israel at the turn of the millennium (1996–2006), European Journal of Social Work, doi: 10.1080/13691457.2022.2044290.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I. and Meler, T. (2022) Retraining in social work for Arab academic women: motivation and integration into the field, Affilia, 37(2): 30019, doi: 10.1177/08861099211057.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I., Khatib, A. and Bar-On, A. (2021a) Development of Palestinian social work in Israel: the formative years (1968–1982), Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 48(1): 10935, https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol48/iss1/5.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I., Allassad Alhuzail, N. and Bar-on, A. (2021b) Arab Muslim social workers between the Sharia and Western interventions and their coping mechanisms, Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 40(4): 45974, doi: 10.1080/15426432.2021.1924099.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I., Allassad Alhuzail, N. and Bar-On, A. (2022a) Challenges facing social work in the indigenous Arab minority in Israel: voices from the field, The British Journal of Social Work, 52(2): 81632, doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcab069.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mahajne, I., Allassad Alhuzail, N. and Bar-On, A. (2022b) The professionalization of social work in Israel’s Arab society, International Social Work, 65(4): 74660, doi: 10.1177/0020872820959363.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mehudar, Y. (2014) Why do you need ‘outstanding employees’? The ‘outstanding employee’ competition is a small and humiliating award and a nightmare for employees, Globes, 23 November, www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000988189(in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Nevo, Y. (2016) Some thoughts on excellence!, It’s Time for Education Magazine, 26 December, www.edunow.org.il/article/3426(in Hebrew).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Perakyal, A. and Ruusuvuori, J. (2011) Analyzing talk and text, in N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln (eds) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, London: Sage Publications, pp 52944.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ricoeur, P. (1981) What is a text? Explanation and understanding, in J.B. Thompson (ed) Hermeneutics and the Human Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 14564.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Rogowski, S. (2010) Social Work: The Rise and Fall of a Profession, Bristol: Policy Press.

  • Rossite, A. (2008) Professional Excellence: Beyond Technical Competence, New Jersey, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

  • United Nations Human Rights Office (2018) Report of the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Statelessness: A Minority, Geneva: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N18/231/96/PDF/N1823196.pdf?OpenElement.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • United Nations Refugee Agency (2022) National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, Geneva: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, https://emergency.unhcr.org/entry/44031/ethnic-religious-and-linguistic-minorities-and-indigenous-peoples.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Weisbrod, B.A. (1988) The Nonprofit Economy, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Ibrahim Mahajne Zefat Academic College and Beit Berl Academic College, Israel

Search for other papers by Ibrahim Mahajne in
Current site
Google Scholar
Close
and
Nuzha Allassad Alhuzail Sapir Academic College, Israel

Search for other papers by Nuzha Allassad Alhuzail in
Current site
Google Scholar
Close

Content Metrics

May 2022 onwards Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 205 205 34
Full Text Views 69 69 10
PDF Downloads 134 134 20

Altmetrics

Dimensions

You are not currently authorised to access the full text of this chapter or article.
Access options
To access the full chapter or article then please choose one of the options below.
Purchase
Pay to access content (PDF download and unlimited online access)
Other access options
Redeem Token
Institutional Login
Log in via Open Athens or Shibboleth. Please contact your librarian if you need any help.
Login with Institutional Access
Personal Login
Login to your BUP account with your individual credentials.
Login with BUP account

Institutional librarians can find more information about free trials here

Critical and Radical Social Work
An international journal