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Meeting with Jewish Student Leaders Foundation Jerusalem, January, 2013 Ministry of Education.
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Transcript of Meeting with Jewish Student Leaders Foundation Jerusalem, January, 2013 Ministry of Education.
Meeting with Jewish Student Leaders Foundation
Jerusalem, January, 2013
Ministry of Education
Education System Statistics2012-2013: 2.8% growth from 2011-12
Total number of students including kindergartens: 2,005,000
2012-2013 2011-2012
1,582,000 1,567,000 Students
423,000 384,000 Kindergartens
4,528 4,446 Schools
60,327 58,009 Classrooms
141,085 130,000 Teachers
The Minister of Education, Mr. Gideon Sa'ar, has led a multi-year program, which has included the following principle objectives:
1) Improving learning attainments
2) Combating violence and improving school environment
3) Deepening education for values
4) Maximizing teaching time
5) Decreasing learning gaps
6) Strengthening teacher standing and improving the quality of teaching
7) Strengthening the standing of principals
8) Focusing on core subjects
9) Adapting curricula to changing realities
10)Strengthening vocational education
11)Adapting the education system to the 21st century
12)Integrating students with special needs (added 2012-2013)
Strategic Program
New Horizon Reform (“Ofek Hadash”) – elementary and junior high
Courage to Change Reform (“Oz L’Tmura”) – senior high
• Significant increase in teachers’ salaries
• Restructuring the work week (36 or 40 hours)
• Small classroom lessons for teaching in small groups
• Building physical infrastructures for teachers
• Career advancement and training
• Performance Based Bonuses (Courage to Change)
Major Reforms
As a result of the Trachtenberg Committee’s findings, the following measures are being taken from 2012-2013, in order to ease the financial burden on parents:
• Free education for ages 3-4
• Subsidizing after school programs for ages 3-9
• Subsidizing School Excursions
• Text book lending program
• Increasing support for youth movements
The Trachtenberg Committee
Easing the Financial Burden on Parents
• From the 2012-2013 school year, the Government has expanded free education for ages 3 and 4
• During this 2012-2013 school year, some 269,000 or 85% of children aged 3 and 4, will receive free education
• Within 3 years, all 3 and 4 year old children will receive free and compulsory education
• For this purpose, the Government is increasing the Education Ministry’s base budget by NIS 1.8 billion ($450 million)
Parents save NIS 8,000 ($2,000) per child
Free Education for Ages 3-4
• The Government is subsidizing learning frameworks for 3-9 year olds in the afternoon hours until 4pm
• The initiative will strengthen education, narrow learning gaps, and ease costs for parents
• The Government will increase the Education Ministry’s base budget for this purpose by NIS 2.35 billion ($620 million)
• The program is being implemented differentially, with full funding for the lowest socio economic areas and partial funding in the stronger socio economic areas
After School Programs for Ages 3-9
• For the first time, the Education Ministry is subsidizing school excursions, to the extent of NIS 270 million
• Differential Subsidies (40%-80%) – assistance to the middle and lower socio-economic brackets
• Emphasis on value related excursions
Subsidizing School Excursions
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• Will significantly ease the burden on parents, by saving hundreds of shekels in acquiring text books
• Will increase equality by ensuring all children receive the full range of text books
• Will improve the Ministry’s ability to enforce the use of approved text books
Text Book Lending Program
Financial Assistance to Students
• The Education Ministry sees great importance in instilling students with an awareness of the Holocaust and its impact
• Since 2012, the Ministry together with the Union for Local Authorities, have significantly increased subsidies for Poland trips
• When fully implemented over the next two years, some NIS 50 million ($12 million) will be distributed annually to needy students
Student Participation in Excursions to Poland
2010-2011 – some 23,000 students
2011-2012 – some 30,000 students
2012-2013 (est.) – some 35,000 students
Educational Excursions to Poland
Deepening Education for Values
Objectives:
Strengthening Jewish, Zionist and Israeli values
Strengthening democratic and social values
Increasing awareness and identification with Jerusalem
Encouraging recruitment to the IDF and to national civic service
Encouraging involvement in and strengthening youth movements
Increasing volunteerism in the education system
Deepening Education for Values
Implementation:
Increasing educational excursions to Jerusalem in Grades 5, 7, and 11 - with the aim that every student visit Jerusalem
Substantial funding for value related school excursions, linked to socio-economic status (commencing 2012-2013 school year)
Creating a new subject in secular State schools, called “Israel’s Culture and Tradition”
Encouraging enrollment to the IDF and national civic service, focusing on schools with low enlistment figures
Increasing financial assistance to students traveling on the educational excursion to Poland
Extending the “Israel Journey” Program (Masa Israeli) to Year 11
• Educational opportunities for gifted and talented students as a standard part of the formal public education system
• Israel is one of the few in the Western world that applies a nationwide policy of dealing with gifted and talented students
• Equal opportunity and access to programs for gifted and talented students
Excellence in Education
Our Vision
The ideal graduate of the Israeli education system• is fully connected to their community and to
society at large• has learned to utilize his or her unique skills and
capabilities– for his/her personal achievement– for the general betterment of society
Excellence in Education