FUCAE strives to raise the standard of education and the quality of facilities in Arab schools, in addition to developing programs suitable for the specific needs of Arab students that reflect national identity and cultural differences of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel.

Goals

• The main aim of FUCAE is to advance Arab education in Israel on all levels. To achieve this goal, FUCAE strives to:
• Equalize Arab education to Jewish education in all fields: the physical structure of schools, budget and resource allocation;
• Change the structure of the educational system to give the Arab public autonomy in setting policy and designing curricula for its students;
• Change the goals of Arab education to answer the real needs of Arab students;
• Develop a strong national and cultural identity among Arab students;
• Raise awareness of the situation of Arab education in the Arab community and in Israeli society
  

Main Activities

• The Ministry of Education Watchdog Project: as FUCAE's main activity, the project advocates quality for Arab students and schools, combining research with advocacy and lobbying campaigns within the Ministry;
• The Identity project: the project trains teachers and guidance counselors as facilitators of a 12 week curriculum for Arab high school students. In an open, non-judgmental environment, Arab teenagers are encouraged to explore their identity, appreciate Arab contributions to society and thus build self-esteem. The curriculum combines lessons on the Arab world with facilitated discussion and critical thinking exercises on issues of national identity, inter-community relations and personal development;
• The Stress Management Center: the goal of the center is to train school personnel and professionals working with children to safely and effectively handle stressful situations in their schools, through teacher training, innovative curricular, "intervention kits" for teachers and the training of psychological professionals;
• Development of a Learning Disability Test: FUCAE is working with a psychologist and university professor, Dr. Marwan Dwairy, to develop and standardize an appropriate test to detect and identity learning disabilities in Arab students;
• Curriculum Study: this new project aims to bring together a team of experts to study the Ministry of Education's curricular for Arab schools in History, Civics and Geography. Following initial research, the team will design alternative curricular more appropriate to Arab students' cultural and linguistic needs;
• Databank project: FUCAE has initiated a comprehensive electronic Databank project to collect, organize and make available a wide range of qualitative and quantitive data on Arab education;
• Study Days, seminars and workshops: FUCAE regularly hosts study days, seminars, and workshops on various topics on the cutting-edge of Arab education. These forums bring together Arab educators, policy makers, leading academics and activists to present new findings, encourage discussion and networking and organize to address systemic educational problems.

Publications

FUCAE publishes a 40 page newsletter, issues in Arab education, to provide a forum for both experts and the general public to discuss and debate new educational issues and the current challenges affecting the education system.