Manifestation of the Freirean Pedagogy in a Unique Pre-Service Teacher Education Programme for Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel

Abstract: The unique pre-service teacher education programme for Ethiopian immigrants implemented in the Achva Academic College integrates two key approached to value-oriented education, the pluralistic approach and the particularistic approach. The fundamental assumption underpinning the planning of a unique pre-service teacher education programme for Ethiopian immigrants is providing a response and equal opportunity to a population that comes from a different culture and socioeconomic status: to learn, acquire a profession, be integrated in the labour market and constitute an example to Ethiopian pupils at school. This paper presents the perception of the Freirean pedagogy and the manifestation of its characteristics in the unique programme. In order to demonstrate the principles of the critical-Freirean pedagogy embodied in the programme, we adopted a method of content analysis of interviews and documents which accompanied the programme. The case study illustrates the applied and practical components of the Freirean pedagogy principles, which facilitated the implementation of the programme and the success thereof. The insights derived from the study can benefit any educational initiative of designing a unique education programme for a minority group that experiences difficulties.