This chapter explores a shared learning program of English among Jewish and Arab students in a mixed city in Israel, from the point of view of the teachers. As a rule, in Israel, Jewish and Arab students study in separate school systems in a context of a continuous political tension between the groups. The study closely observed a training course for Jewish and Arab English teachers aimed to guide them in the stages of preparing and carrying out the shared lessons with their students.

The aim of this study was to examine challenges and opportunities of shared learning, from both social and pedagogic aspects, in a participatory action research study. The analysis offers a general scheme for evaluation of the challenges and potential for teachers, working together in a conflictual context vis-à-vis three elements:(1) the shared field of study;(2) the experience of meeting the ‘other’; and (3) the role of a teacher as a practitioner. These elements are exemplified with data from the meetings and raise the following general points. First, shared learning has the potential to empower teachers on both the personal and professional levels. Second, the tension between the two main goals of the program–meeting the ‘other’and improving the field of study–is built-in. Therefore, creativity and teaching expertise can overcome this tension. Finally, teachers generally chose to focus on the similarities between the groups rather than dealing with complexities stemming from an imbalance of power. Nonetheless, the shared learning created numerous encounters with conflictual contexts, in general, and with the challenges of the minority group, in particular.