A transnational lens: teacher-school doctor exchanges in early twentieth-century Jaffa-Tel Aviv

This article employs a transnational educational history framework to examine the diffusion of knowledge between medical and educational professionals in Ottoman Palestine. It posits that ideas travel across borders through professional networks of actors, who then adapt, or “lend and borrow,” these concepts to suit local conditions. The key actors in this study are the interacting networks of European-trained physicians and teachers in Jaffa-Tel Aviv. Through formal and informal connections, these networks transferred contemporary European ideas on hygiene and school medicine to the local Hebrew education system. This process of adaptation resulted in three distinct models of school medical care, determined by each institution's socioeconomic status. The first model, found in financially limited kindergartens, consisted of infrequent doctor visits for basic treatment. A second model was implemented at the better-funded Girls’ School, where organized care was provided by a medic who followed a doctor's instructions and monitored physical development. The third and most comprehensive model was found at the affluent Herzliya Gymnasium, which offered a system employing a dedicated doctor for prevention, treatment, and systematic health monitoring. While these teacher and physician networks collaborated, the relationship was hierarchical, with physicians maintaining authority and subordinating school activities to medical policies.