The Principals of Pluralism
Source: Jerusalem Post
More than 100 school principals and teachers, who completed the two-year TALI Educational Leadership Program between 2003 and 2008, were honored in a formal graduation ceremony at the Kibbutz Ramat Rachel Congress Hall on June 3, 2009. The TALI Educational Leadership Program is a course of study for principals and teaching staff from TALI schools all over Israel. Now in its ninth year, its aim is to create leaders who can bring Jewish studies, in the TALI spirit of pluralism and non-coercion, into their schools.
TALI, the Hebrew acronym for "enriched Jewish studies," is a nationwide network of more than 120 schools and preschools, with some 32,000 students, committed to providing Jewish education to the non-observant in the secular state school system. Established in 1976, TALI is sponsored by the TALI Education Fund (TEF), a part of the Masorti Movement's Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, and is fully recognized and supported by the Ministry of Education.
In order to carry out the mission of the TALI schools to provide Jewish studies to their children and to expose them to Jewish tradition and heritage, the TALI leadership developed the TALI Educational Leadership Program which provides principals and TALI teachers with remedial Jewish studies stressing values and experiences that nurture and strengthen Jewish identity. The two year program also provides the participants with non-threatening, supportive forums where they can talk about their frustrations and failures and workshops with actual case studies where they learn practical skills to cope with difficult situations and how to apply their new knowledge in their schools.