Work experience of Israeli Arabs male adolescents Sahar Nassar, Aseel Natur, Dikla Brown, Hala Habayib and Rachel Gali Cinamon Career Development Lab School of Education, Tel Aviv University,

Introduction Work experience of disadvantage groups got relatively low empirical attention in general models of vocational behavior. Few studies described the personal work experiences of adolescents from poor families or minorities groups. The authentic work experiences of adolescents from disadvantage groups in Israel are rare, especially the Arab minority in Israel. There is a need and importance to learn and understand the Israeli context of Arab Youth employment due to the crucial role of cultural and economic conditions in the individual’s career development.

Goal of The Current Study To explore and learn the authentic work experiences of Israeli Arabs adolescents.

The Israeli Arab Context Arabs in Israel comprise a minority population, consisting of 20.8% of the general population. The majority of Arab society (85%) is Moslem and 39% live in Arab villages or cities in Israel’s northern region. They have an independent educational system, and Arabic is their official language (Golan-Agnon, 2006).

This sector of the Israeli population is usually less educated than the Jewish population (median years of study of 12 versus 12.9), and earns only 53% of the average salary of Jewish employees. Israeli Arabs have higher rates of unemployment lower attendance in institutions of higher education (a Jewish majority comprises 85.9% of Israeli university students) and lower academic achievements in high school when compared to the Jewish majority (Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, 2016)

Israeli Arabs Adolescents There are 113 thousand Arab adolescent in Israel. 4.2% of them participate in the labor market. 6.5% of the boys work. 1.9% of the girls work. The main motive for their work is to make money.

Method Participants: Nine Israeli Arab male adolescents aged 16-19. All of them from Arab cities and villages in the central area of Israel. The participants are members of relatively big families (5-8) children. Education level of the parents is between 8-17 years (The mothers are more educated persons in the families). Family economic status is low. Three of them are excellent students.

Method Measure: An in-depth semi-structured interview protocol was developed based on the literature and the purpose of the current study. Main leading question: “Tel me how is to be a working adolescent? ”

Method Procedure: Research interviews were conducted in Arabic for 45-90 minutes, taped, and transcribed to Hebrew and to English. The interviewers were the two first authors: Muslims female Master students in counseling. One of them is a mother. Identification of domains and core ideas: Following the Rich and Cinamon (2007) adaptation of CQR analysis (Hill et al., 1997).

Results The participants' stories about their work experiences were difficult to hear, describing hard life, with low social support and low satisfaction and well being. All of them have decided to work in order to help the families and to be economic independent. Blending work and study involves tiredness and decrease in academic involvement and behavior along with benefits.

Four main themes Difficulties and barriers physical difficulties of hard work, many hours, low paid, low social support from employers and colleagues, usually low family support and involvement. No school support. Reduction in academic behavior. Benefits economic independence, gaining new skills, improving Hebrew language, familiarity of the Jewish people, self confidence and self growth.

Four main themes Family relations Expectations for emotional support and support in front of the employees, tensions with fathers, learning from big brothers. Social and Political perspective political awareness regarding discrimination of the Arab society in Israel. Criticisms regarding patriarchal norms of the Arab society and low internal social support, learning basic knowledge of economic rules.

Samir, 16 years old, an excellent students that works also in a restaurant: “…Many times, for example, I do not have the strength to play sports at school and therefore I do not function properly as much as I love sports…There are days, for example Sundays, where I go exhausted to school because on Saturday there is a workload at work.“ “Sometimes there is a conflict between work and studies and I feel the need to talk to someone from school about it. It's ok that I tell my Mom and friends, but I feel that the school can help me and understand me more because It's about them (school)…”(16 When I started to work, I became more independent and responsible ... In terms of money, I feel that I am more intelligent in using money because I value the money more.

“At work I also go through many experiences and learn lessons for life “…For example, I meet different types of people every day, talk to them and create good relationships with a wide range of people. I like interpersonal communication, and I like to meet people, and at work I had the opportunity to experience it.” “…I also learned what it is to work ... at all!”

“I work because I want to invest in myself, to be a very successful person ... I don’t want to sit at home and only study like a little boy, I want to be a real man… I think that when you work and understand what independence is and what pleasure independence brings to a person, you cannot get out of it.” ... My Dad always tells me: "I want you to work so that you understand what it is not to study in academia". And that really happened to me. I keep saying to myself: "You have to study in academia so as not to stay that way for life, cleaning shops and a waiter for people."

Quotations “I don’t think I could have done everything I did, without the agreement and encouragement of my family ... I wanted to work at all because I see my older brother as a role model ...”

Discussion The findings emphasize the potential of adolescents’ work to harm and also to improve their development. Adolescents expect and need the support and care of their families and their teachers through this work experiences. The importance of external supervising on employers. The potential of work experiences to enhance the development of to citizen identity and political awareness.

Thank You! This presentation and other materials can be downloaded from: https://education.tau.ac.il/yeuts_career_lab