Introduction: school readers as reflection of public and academic discourse

Abstract

A school is an important tool in constructing identity, used in various ways. The functionalist approach to education seeks to shape a portrait of the graduates who will be active and useful citizens in their society. The norms and learned knowledge in the curriculum is transferred to students. The curriculum, as Grant and Sleeter put it, ‘always represents somebody’s version of what constitutes important knowledge and a legitimate worldview’. This approach claims that every display of knowledge results from a conscious or unconscious choice at a given time. The choice and organisation of the knowledge are made by those who determine and define which knowledge is valid and important and which is of secondary worth. The primary written curriculum tool is the textbook, seen by providers and receivers alike as the best means of learning and garnering information. The textbooks strike a balance between various social voices seeking to disseminate their points of view. Israeli curricular development from 1948 to date has passed through three main periods.