The HOTS intervention programme and factors that affect its implementation

An analysis of the HOTS programme shows that it is built on concept of HOTS that encompasses a broad range of cognitive and metacognitive skills and thinking dispositions. Such a combination considered most effective for students to be productive and competitive in the modern society (Yoad & Levin, 2007; Paul & Elder, 2006; Kuhn, 2005; ten Dam & Volman, 2004; Anderson &

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Krathwohl, 2001; Goleman, 1995; Resnik, 1987). The key point set out in the programme is that cultivating students’ cognitive skills and thinking dispositions is a complex process in which the methods employed are often multipurpose and interrelated (Paul & Elder, 2006; Facione, 2000). The programme adopts an ‘infusion’ approach whereby learning subject matters and developing HOTS are inseparable.

The programme emphasises the constructivist principles of learning and teaching and promotes an active involvement of students in learning process and construction of knowledge (Yoad & Levin, 2007; Hofer & Pintrich, 2002; Thayer-Bacon, 2000). Based on the ideas of social constructivism the programme supports the ideas of an active teacher and student involvement in creating the learning community and developing the citizenship competence of students (Dam & Volman, 2004; Mantero, 2002; Rogoff, 1990; 2003). At the same time, the programme recognizes the significance of some behaviourist (Krathwohl, Bloom & Masia 1965; Bloom et al., 1956) and cognitivist learning theories (Pavio, 1986; Ausubel, 1978) for learning and instructional practices. An example is scaffolding techniques which were widely used in the behaviourist and cognitivist teaching practices and were enhanced and updated by constructivist educational researchers (Mayer, 2008; Hogan & Pressley, 1997).

The HOTS intervention programme provides an enhanced explanation of thinking strategies and their role in developing the HOTS of students, including their metacognitive knowledge (Yoad & Levin, 2007; Schraw et al., 2006; Anderson, 2004). It is also recommended that a cross-curricular approach is used whereby skills and knowledge obtained in one subject may be used to support and reinforce learning in other subjects. The programme emphasizes the importance formative assessment in the form of teacher feedbacks which are expected to provide a more effective evaluation of students’ learning performance and their abilities. Teachers are encouraged to exert more effort in their work with low academic achievers while implementing thinking strategies and creative pedagogic techniques.

The results of this study suggest the factors that may impede the implementation of the HOTS programme, being are at odds with the principles of the constructivist learning environment for developing HOTS. The Ministry of Education of Israel emphasises the necessity of the classroom

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learning environment that fosters inquiry learning and the move to the student-centered collaborative pedagogies (Pedagogical horizons, 2007). However, in 2009, a new government was elected and new directives were put forth, resulting in frequent alterations in the educational policies and reduction of the priority given to ‘Pedagogical horizons’ (Galagher et al., 2012). The new government attached high importance to raising test scores on national and international exams and the implementation of a high level accountability system for teachers and schools (Wolf, 2014; Gallagher et al., 2012).

It has been argued (Gallagher et al., 2012) that the new government policies that require intensive test preparation are in conflict with developing HOTS. So are the practices of schools which, in order to present good results to educational authorities, teachers focus their efforts on teaching for tests instead on teaching to learn. In Israeli schools, there is also an ill practice of promoting students from grade to grade regardless of their academic proficiency (Wolf, 2014). As teachers reported in the current study, there was not sufficient time to involve students in unguided inquiry, classroom discussions and deep thinking, as they experienced tremendous pressure to cover the curriculum and prepare students for tests. These challenges were aggravated by the necessity to work in oversized classes and addressing the needs of low-achieving students. It has been claimed (Pinar, 2013; Gallagher et al., 2012) that the intensive pressures generated by the new policies have been experienced by teachers throughout the Israeli school system.

Shortcomings in the programme implementation may concern the development of the social and citizenship competence of Arab students by using social disciplines. An examination of the HOTS programme materials lead to the conclusion that the programme places an accent on fostering HOTS in mathematics and sciences classes. The picture is different regarding the infusion of HOTS in social disciplines curricula. With regard to the latter, the programme goes in line with the policies set out by the Ministry of Education of Israel. The main problem, which has been identified by a number of authors (Pinar, 2013; Barak, 2013; Arar, 2012; Levy & Massalha, 2012; Ganz, 2008; Aden et al., 2001) and by the teachers interviewed in this study, is that the content of history and civics curricula emphasises the national-Jewish aspect of the State of Israel, downplaying the importance of learning about Israel’s minorities.

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The lack of the sound theoretical basis for developing the HOTS of Israeli students through social disciplines and the Education Ministry’s standpoint on this issue has likely affected the implementation of the skill transfer concept promoted by the HOTS intervention. Although it has been suggested that the employment of cognitive and metacognitive strategies through cross - curricular learning contribute to the transfer of HOTS across different tasks and knowledge domains (Zohar & David, 2009; Barak et al., 2007; Kuhn & Dean, 2004; Pintrich, 2002; Halpern, 2001), the current study shows that this approach has not been followed in the instruction of social disciplines and might impede cross-curricular learning.