A group of leading educational nonprofit organizations will organize a conference that will address needs and opportunities for Israel’s education, with emphasis on how to expand the circle of excellence in Israel, with a particular glance at the middle school level
Israel’s middle school students are still falling behind their peers in OECD countries in the PISA mathematics tests on their average score, the high ratio of struggling students and the low rate of excelling students. The increase in the number of high school students graduating the five-unit tracks, has not yet trickled down to middle school, where designated policy, capacity and intervention are needed. One could expect that the Israeli public would voice a sense of urgency regarding these issues towards the upcoming elections. However, this is not happening as other topics are more acute to parents, such as regulating pre-kindergarten nurseries and reducing the compulsory cost for parents who send their children to the public school system.
In order to prepare for a new education policy, which will be designed by a new government after the elections, a group of 16 leading educational nonprofit organizations have suggested to brainstorm together and to prepare the groundwork for such a policy. The group is led by the Israel Union of Education Directors in Local Municipalities, and it includes the Associations of University and College Presidents, the Teachers’ Unions, the Students’ Council, the Parents’ Organization and the youth movements, as well as the Weizmann Institute, the Center for Education Technology, and more. Their effort is led by Ram Shmueli, a former Brigadier General in the Israeli Airforce who has been involved in educational projects and consulting to Ministers of Education.
Together they are planning to hold a one-day conference in September 2019. The conference will address the needs and opportunities for Israel’s education, with emphasis on how to expand excellence in mathematics and the sciences, with a particular glance at the middle school level. It will also discuss disparities of learning opportunities between children from the periphery and the center, and the social status of teachers in society. A preliminary study to the education systems of Ontario and Finland is planned to take place soon, and two education experts from Ontario will be invited as key note speakers at the conference. The conference will be attended by 1000 participants, including education experts, educators, researchers, journalists and politicians.