Hura will invest in teachers and teaching by appointing an excellence coordinator and establishing teacher communities of practice
Hura is a Bedouin Local Council in the Negev Desert that was established in 1989 to settle the local nomad tribes. Today Hura is home to 21,000 residents, of which 60% are children under the age of 17. Hura is located at the very low end of the national socio-economic scale, however in recent years, government and private investors opened community-based businesses that offer some employment opportunities. This progress in Hura has been achieved mostly due to the leadership of its Mayor, Muhammad al-Nabari, a Ph.D in organic chemistry, who was elected in 2005.
The Mayor positioned education as a priority in Hura. 3,000 students are enrolled in five high schools, including one magnet school for excelling Bedouin students from all over the Negev. In 2011, they still did not offer a 5-unit track in mathematics but since then Hura opened excellence classes in its middle schools as well as 5-unit classes in high school. As a result, the five-unit matriculation rates in mathematics have been improving gradually to 8% in 2016 (most of them are female students).
Last year, the ‘5p2’ coalition noted this transformation, and initiated a local collective effort in Hura that is currently underway. The Ministry of Education decided to include Hura in its new partnerships with social periphery municipalities. Hura recently approached us, because they identified further potential coming in from middle school. They found out that 370 students (28.5%) are now studying in the excellence classes, however only 50% of the five-unit students in 10th grade, actually make it to 12th grade.
Hura is now at a crossroad. In 2018, the rate of 5-unit graduates declined to 7% and current numbers indicate a further decline. The Mayor decided not to nominate himself again for the upcoming elections, however the education leadership of Hura decided to stay course with their goals. They set a target of 14% (60 students) five-unit graduates by 2021 and turned to the foundation to seek assistance in investing in the teachers and their teaching.
Today there are 41 mathematics teachers in Hura, however 36% of which have temporarily relocated from the North of the country are leaving quite quickly once they find a teaching position closer to home. Only five teachers teach the 5-unit track, while three of them are relatively new and in need of mentoring.
In order to assist the school staff to further develop their practice, they will appoint a coordinator to the program and intend to take the following steps: