Between “us” and “them”: Teachers' perceptions of the national versus international composition of the Israeli history curriculum

•We investigate history teachers' perceptions of the history curriculum content.•The teachers were found to favor slightly local over global content.•Teachers' perceptions differ from the actual balance of the examined curriculum.

This study aims to investigate history teachers' perceptions of the desired history curriculum content in Israeli schools in term of national versus international composition. We surveyed Israeli secondary school history teachers in the Jewish secular stream, employing an on-line quantitative and qualitative questionnaire that asked the teachers to select the subjects that they consider important for inclusion in the curriculum. Our results show that teachers' perceptions regarding the desired curricular balance between local and international content differ quite significantly from the actual balance of the official curriculum. Teachers' perceptions might affect the gap between the intended curriculum and the implemented one.