The allegations about the level of teachers were ground to a pulp.
The debates over the level of wages in relation to working hours have also been much talked about.
In light of the difficulties, many teachers are working: they are leaving the system and finding a more comfortable job: fewer vacations, more pay, and especially less anger from Israeli parents.
Their answer to the claims is simple - if it's such a convenient job, why not join the system?
But for some reason it does not work.
These days I am inundated with messages from principals asking if I know teachers who can be recruited for next year.
Everyone close to the system sees what cannot be hidden: good teachers leave, new entrants do not, and who will meet the children next year?
Who would we want to educate our children for 12 years?
As a teacher researcher for three decades, I offer a different perspective on the Israeli education system.
The teaching role is one of the only roles in the economy that combines a huge variety of skills: the teacher needs to be attentive, charismatic, smart, communicative.
A teacher needs to understand diverse content areas, be a presenter, a secret wife and a friend.
An optimal teacher touches the souls of the students.
As an educator, you will find yourself throughout the year in front of students, in front of parents, in pedagogical meetings, in a mental conversation with a student, on an annual trip, at a coffee shop in front of Nofei Israel. Where else will you find such diverse work?
When I look at teachers today, I see attrition - too much bureaucracy and too little autonomy.
It erodes the creativity and motivation of the educators.
Undoubtedly, the system needs to undergo a significant refresh that will fit it into the 21st century.
Until that happens, there is a lot to do.
The dozens of excellent teachers I have accompanied over the past 30 years have had a clear common denominator: they were in love with their role, highly valued by students and their parents, and unwilling to change professions for any fortune in the world;
Everyone wanted to develop, learn, and were looking for a community of colleagues to take off with.
The more a teacher invests in her personal and professional development, the more fully she will reach her students.
When the teacher experiences the joy of learning for herself, she is reminded of the essence of the profession.
She remembers her creative powers and can bring them to children in class.
The difficulty and solution to the current crisis are related to one of the characteristics of the profession.
True, a teacher who has received a teaching certificate can teach 30 and 40 years in the profession without changing.
Still, a teacher who chooses to study finds that developmental channels are open to her.
The system rewards teachers for learning and development.
It must now encourage them to connect their studies with the enormous potential of school change, and provide them with the resources to do so.
Even within the shortcomings of the existing system, the teaching profession is still the most wonderful profession in the world.
Until the desired changes at the systemic level arrive, every teacher can find ways to raise chicken to bring new spaces to classrooms.
Prof. Muscat-Barkan is the head of the "Embroidery" program for a master's degree in Jewish-Israeli education at Hebrew Union College and the Hebrew University
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