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The basis for the failure of the Ministry of Education in the Corona crisis - Walla! news

2020-10-31T16:08:32.187Z


The professional knowledge is with the teachers, not among those who sit in the office and forget what a classroom looks like. Despite this, the Ministry of Education insists on being centralized and expressing distrust in them


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The basis for the Ministry of Education's failure in the Corona crisis

The professional knowledge is with the teachers, not among those who sit in the office and forget what a classroom looks like.

Despite this, the Ministry of Education insists on being centralized and expressing distrust in them

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  • The education system

  • schools

  • Corona virus

  • Ministry of Education

  • Teachers

Yizhar Opletka

Saturday, October 31, 2020, 6:00 p.m.

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In the video: A gathering of parents in first grade at a school in Givatayim (Editing: Nir Chen)

In the past everything looked different.

The Minister of Education, the mayors, the parents - all saw the teachers as those who were in charge of the education of the children and as having a strong desire for their growth and development.

They were responsible for the material supply, the teaching of the children, the content of the value education and more.

They gained autonomy in their classroom, since no one thought they would abuse it and teach the students during class.



Since then, unfortunately, the attitude of the Ministry of Education has changed.

From experts with a deep commitment to their students' learning, teachers began to be perceived as having to closely monitor their work, making it necessary to make sure it meticulously followed office instructions - even when those were the ones that hampered student growth.



Teachers were sometimes required to sign an attendance clock, and fill out forms upon forms to prove that they had done their job as expected, and that they were entitled to their - meager - salary from the public coffers.



The centralized view of the Ministry of Education is the basis for the failure of the corona plague.

This perception, along with the lack of trust in the professional and emotional commitment of the teacher to the student - are the basis for the failure of the Ministry of Education to properly deal with the corona plague in the education system.

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Centralization and mistrust.

Yesod HaMaala School in Rishon Lezion (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Instead of understanding that the education system is one of the most complex organizations in the country, and that managing it as one piece is not possible - easy and material during the severe crisis we are in - the Ministry of Education chose to present a uniform return program without regard to the characteristics of the locality. Student achievement, parental socio-economic status and more.



Take for example a family with three children.

Is there a parent who believes that the same treatment should be given to his children without regard to their different personalities and different emotional needs?

Are we supposed to educate our children in exactly the same way, as if there are no differences between them?

Every parent understands that no, and that's a good thing.

A mistake that lasts for decades

So why does the Ministry of Education choose to pursue a uniform policy in an education system that serves more than two million students?

The answer to this is complex, but at its core is one word - trust.



When for more than two decades teachers have not been trusted with their expertise and the professional autonomy required for proper classroom management, why should the ministry now remember this and give each school the right to determine its own way of returning students to the classroom within the purple mark?



This is how many organizations and businesses operate.

Are hotel managers smarter than school principals?

Bank employees are more responsible than Israeli teachers?

Certainly not, but when the ministry has been busy for many years measuring student achievement and assessing teachers' performance as if it were everything - we should not be surprised that the simple solution of decentralizing responsibility to local authorities and teaching staff in schools - is not implemented.

For more than two decades, teachers have not been trusted with their expertise (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Instead of presenting a uniform and detailed plan, the implementation of which is in a complex and uncertain area, the Ministry of Education should propose basic principles for returning to school in cooperation with the Ministry of Health.



These principles will be included in a purple note appropriate to the various educational frameworks

, and will deal with permitted learning spaces (outside and inside), scope of material coated in the "corona" year, diverse learning methods, value education methods under the corona restrictions, and more.

Everything else has to be done by the local authorities and the school principals.



For example, school principals will decide how first and second graders learn.

Those of the principals who have been given many open spaces in the school yard will be allowed to create “grass” classrooms divided into two groups and a partition and one teacher teaching the class.



Others will lead integrated learning in which some 11th-12th grade students study while others listen to a lesson from home.

In other classrooms, teachers will learn in small groups alternately and in others will learn a language through appropriate apps alongside attendance in class.

The sky is the limit in education, but everyone knows that the treasure of professional knowledge is in the teachers, not in those who sit in the office for many years, and have forgotten what a classroom looks like.



Prof. Yizhar Opletka is an expert in Administration and Education Policy, School of Education, Tel Aviv University

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Source: walla

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