Multiple Identities - The Key to Enriching the Educational Experience
"Multiple identities is a capacity, a virtue."
Many times we categorize people who have gone through cultural, geographical or sociological changes as lacking a strong identity, lacking coherence or dispossessed of a firm school of thought. Instead of viewing multiple identities as a burden, it has now been suggested that having multiple identities is a virtue, an enhancer of personal sophistication.
People with multiple identities are no longer shady or confused. Instead they may be more sophisticated with a more robust sense of self than previously thought.
This question of multiple identities was tackled and addressed at the Multiple Identities in Jewish Education conference in January. Over 250 people took part in the 5th International Conference on Research in Jewish Education. Sessions took place at Oranim Academic College of Education, Kiryat Tivon and at the Mandel Leadership Institute (MLI), Jerusalem. Conference attendees enjoyed many challenging presentations dealing with conceptual, empirical and programmatic research on the topic of Multiple Identities in Jewish Education. Over two days, the theme of multiple identities was thoroughly examined through each of four distinct lenses: cultural, political, language and religious.
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The second day of the Multiple Identities in Jewish Education Conference took place at the Mandel Leadership Institute
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One of the highlights of the conference was the final plenary session at MLI where Professor Lee Shulman addressed the audience on the subject of the cultural role of identity in the development of the mind and the habits of practice. Professor Shulman is President Emeritus of the Carnegie Foundation and Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University and a visiting scholar at the Mandel Leadership Institute. |
His presentation asserted that identity is more than just a sense of self or belonging. Identity is also how one practices – one’s “professional identity”. Prof. Shulman suggested that learning to “profess” is a combination of three aspects: thinking, doing and feeling – the cognitive, the practical or technical and the moral or ethical. He stressed that educators need to relate to identity in a way which encompasses each of these aspects.
Prof. Shulman went further, explaining that having multiple identities should be considered a virtue and an educational goal rather than a burden or an absence of coherence.
"The more identities you can inhabit with integrity, the higher the probability you can make your way in the world… that you can achieve your goals as a human being."
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Prof. Shulman continued by noting that the trend in today’s doctoral programs, towards providing the student with multiple mentors, is a positive development. This exposure to several different ways of thinking encourages the individual to develop multiple identities.
After explaining the value of multiple identities Prof. Shulman told the room of educators that if developing multiple identities is an educational goal they must not rely on chance for its development. He proposed that there should be pedagogies of multiple identity formation. Such pedagogy should have three principles. The first is enactment – educators must enact what they teach with their students. The second element is embodiment – educators have to embody these values. The third is dailyness – the enactment and embodiment should occur on a daily basis. The challenge for educators, Prof. Shulman said, is to keep it from becoming boring. |
Prof. Lee Shulman: Multiple identities are a capacity and a virtue. Creation of multiple identities should be an educational goal. |
We know that fostering and strengthening Jewish identity is an important purpose of Jewish education. Some would argue that it is the purpose. But what definitions of “Jewish identity” inform the research and practice of Jewish educators? How can we conceptualize, study and document identity formation in Jewish Education in diverse national contexts, across different ages and in different educational settings? In presenting the positive value of developing multiple identities, Prof. Shulman re-emphasized the virtue of plurality and heterogeneity for educators and students alike.
"I am interested in what it is that we, as educators, can change, can help grow, can nurture. I want to know how to enrich identity," he said.
Dr. Jen Glaser, co-director of the conference and a MLI faculty member, explains that the conference on multiple identities, "helps build a broad and nuanced understanding of Jewish identity – what it means; how it is fostered; how it can be studied; how identity development relates to other educational goals such as Jewish literacy, social activism and religious practice; how different aspects of Jewish identity relate to one another and what this implies for Jewish education."
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