Section archive - Teacher Education

Recently there has been a growing interest in ways in which Emotional Intelligence (EI) can be enhanced among teachers. However, although it has been noted that effective teaching requires high levels of EI, little is known about effective methods to develop teachers' EI. The current qualitative study followed a two year EI development training for 21 teachers in one school in Israel. The training included workshops and personal EI sessions for teachers, led by an external team of EI experts. The training was based on the Bar-On model of EI which includes five main scales: intrapersonal, interpersonal, adaptability, stress-management, general mood and 15 competencies within it (Bar-On, 1997)

Moore (2012) has shown that many teachers hesitate to discuss controversial topics, and several studies have shown that such discussions are seldom held. Bekerman (2016) pointed to teachers' status within the sociopolitical context, e.g., Israeli teachers' lack of agency within the context of the nation-state. The difficulty teachers face around controversial topics is an important issue for teacher training worldwide and particularly in Israel. In this study, we explored high school teachers’ attitudes about conducting class discussions on the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Israel. This study may afford an opportunity to examine the factors that are associated with teachers' willingness to engage in such discussions in the Israeli context and to draw general conclusions regarding teacher training and practices.

Professional Development in Relational Learning Communities: Teachers in Connection consolidates a decade of action research from three successive cycles of week-long summer seminars for teachers, all designed to foster a Relational Learning Community (RLC). The clarity with which the book documents how disparate theoretical frames animate the seminar’s design and the intentionality behind each of the seminars’ practices is notable; it is the unique blend of gravitas and heart with which Raider-Roth and her faculty approach their project, that leaves its deepest impression on the reader.

8. This article considers the role of the individual during crises in humanism and the ethical responsibility with which the individual is charged in such times of moral calamity. In a narrow sense, the article explores Emmanuel Lévinas's “Nameless” (“Sans nom”), an essay that appears in his book Proper Names, and proposes viewing it as his personal reading in honor of his unique, unaccounted-for teacher Monsieur Chouchani. From a broader philosophical perspective, the article attempts to consider the meaning of ethics and the assumption of responsibility in times when doing so appears to offer no benefit and hold no significance whatsoever. From an educational perspective, it endeavors to better understand the ethical role of the teacher in both tranquil and tempestuous times. And finally, it also offers another profound observation of what Lévinas's article refers to as the “Jewish condition,” not in a national historical sense but as a model of crisis-oriented ethical challenge.