Search results for: Educational reform

This article addresses the way in which characteristics of the education crisis in the postmodern era are manifested in parental deliberations when choosing to homeschool their children in Israel. Based on a review of the characteristics of the education crisis and examination of possible solutions, homeschooling is presented as an optional solution to this crisis.

Pressure of national and international achievements tests results in elementary schools dedicating most of their time to promoting pupils' achievements. However, does school dedicate adequate time to students' emotional availability to learning? Under the 'New Horizon' educational reform in Israel, homeroom teachers must dedicate one weekly hour to individual emotional conversations with pupils. This policy relies on development theories regarding emotional conversations as vital to learning processes. I believe in managing a 'heart to heart conversations' system shared by the entire school staff, a policy that requires overall solutions, but paves the way to pupils' emotional availability to learning and resulting success. Emotional conversation has many advantages for the teachers as well such as: getting to know children beyond their learning abilities, matching expectations and become more significant for their pupils.

In Israel, the Ministry of Education determines all aspects of educational policy, including teachers’ initial teacher education, licensing and professional development. As part of the New Horizon educational reform, the Ministry announced in 2010 a new plan for the professional development of teachers in Israel. The Ministry assigned a mediating role to its district managers and superintendents, placing them in charge of introducing and implementing this policy. The current study describes the findings of a qualitative, narrative-based research, which examined the attitudes of 25 Ministry of Education district managers and superintendents regarding the implementation of the new professional development policy.

Experience in the workforce influences teacher educators’ responses to professional development efforts for adapting new practices. This study examines trajectories of novices and experienced teacher educators in a three-year longitudinal professional development community focused on infusing thinking into college teaching in an Israeli teachers' college. A four-stage trajectory model for development was used to track changes in practice among the teacher educators. The authors’ analysis identified three distinct patterns of professional development among teacher educators: one characterizing novice teacher educators and two distinct patterns for the experienced group.