"אני נהנית ללמד, לעורר תלמידים לחשיבה בעקבות הספרות" אתגרים בהוראת ספרות בבית הספר התיכון

This paper presents research that was conducted among 79 secondaryschool literature teachers who participated in in-service courses where they encountered approaches for developing thinking through teaching literature. The paper presents mixed method research, which combines quantitative and qualitative methods, and is based principally on the findings of a questionnaire completed by the teachers. The aim of the research was to shed light on the conceptions, stances, and practice of secondary-school literature teachers in Israel, pursuant to the aspiration of the country's educational policy makers to include thinking in teaching in general, and in literature teaching in particular, while promoting teaching toward meaningful learning. The research question we posed was: How can we characterize literature teaching in secondary schools in Israel from the point of view of the literature teachers? The theoretical basis for the research consists of an overview of approaches for developing thinking; relating to the theory of knowledge, learning and teaching that focuses on constructivist approaches to knowledge; describing the links between literature teaching and constructivism; and the background concerning literature teaching in Israel in relation to the development of thinking and/or to constructivist approaches in education. The research findings reveal the teachers' stances regarding the goals of teaching literature; the school teaching environment in general and the teaching/ learning environment in literature lessons in particular; the constructivist stances held by the teachers with regard to learning; and also the difficulties experienced by the teachers when teaching literature today. Our conclusions posit that by means of the proper preparation, along with the introduction of change into the curricula and the ways of evaluating, it is possible to hope for a change in the ways of teaching literature.