Emotional responses of school members and stakeholders from a religious community to a curriculum reform

The purpose of the study was to explore the emotions of ultra-Orthodox Jewish school principals, teachers and parents during the introduction of a new governmental curriculum reform in Israel. This society is highly religious and its main purpose is to conserve God’s commandments and avoid modernity. Based on semi-structured interviews with eight school principals, 16 teachers and 16 parents whose children attend schools that adopted the new curriculum, it was found that the reform implementation evoked both negative and positive emotions among educators and stakeholders. Thus, our interviewees reported feeling fear, anxiety, contempt and indifference alongside happiness and enthusiasm in response to the reform. Their emotions are related to conservative religious values, potential transgression, the centrality of religious studies in the ultra-Orthodox society, and a need to prepare the younger generation for adulthood in a modern country. Some practical implications are suggested.