"I don't sleep at night - I'm not sure how I'll start the year at the school I run"

Two weeks before the education system returns from the long vacation, and administrators in many institutions are in desperate pursuit of personnel.

In an interview with Walla!

A school principal tells about the unlikely efforts in that race and the unbearable compromise in the quality of the workforce: "These are people you wouldn't want educating your child"

Uri Sela

08/17/2022

Wednesday, August 17, 2022, 9:52 p.m

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In the video: The Hina server refers to the teachers' sanctions (Walla system!)

At the current point in the holiday season, the principal of the Neve Dalia elementary school in Rosh Ha'Ain, Sigal Rosh, is used to being well past the stage of filling the gaps in the team.

Start preparing the classes, arrange the timetable together with the teachers.

This year, the search for teachers pushed everything aside.

"In two weeks we start the year, and I pray every day that I will succeed. I don't sleep at night, I wake up in a panic at the thought of what I will do," she admits in an interview with Walla.

Rosh is not alone.

96% of principals in Shala District, Central District, reported a shortage of teachers for the coming school year in a survey conducted by the Knesset's Research and Information Center.

The Ministry of Education did announce that the total number of unfilled positions was reduced from approximately 6,000 to approximately 2,000, but the problem is far from resolved.

"If in previous years we found teachers, even if not always with exactly the profile that suits us, this year there isn't much to compromise on either. "The teachers that come are the ones you wouldn't want to teach your children.

And I assume that other principals accepted them after all," says Rush, who has been managing the school for five years. "I currently lack three educators and a science teacher, I have a class without educators."

And when the supply decreases and the demand increases, the competition for each teacher increases.

"Everyone always wants to hire the best teachers. One of our principals negotiated with a teacher about classroom education. She told her that she only wanted to work four days, and the principal said there was no such thing. After a few days, the teacher came to her and told her that another principal had offered her four and that she I'm leaving," she says.

"We've reached a point where we're ready to give anything, just come. There was a teacher who couldn't get a full-time position because she didn't have the necessary specializations, who came to me and said she was going to look elsewhere for more hours. I got a call from her father about how I'm not giving her a full-time position. The teachers come with a list of demands. If you don't give them the day off, the hours and the class they want won't come. The result is that we had teachers we couldn't approve to go on sabbatical because of the shortage, and that creates a lot of resentment."

"The Ministry of Education said that they do not solve the problems we presented, and that the director should solve his own problems. This is not a logical answer. It is not that the ministry is sitting idly by, it is trying and doing, but the situation should have been solved or at least received attention and priority a decade ago. We already talked then about the shortage and we felt it, and every year we say it anew. In the end, I'll be the one standing at the gate on September 1. I hope so."

"People tell me: 'I'm not ready to do what you do.'"

Dalia Brash (photo: official website, courtesy of the photographer)

What could have been done differently?

"The current minister got a system in this situation. She can't solve it instantly. She should have thought years ago about how to recruit teachers. The salary could have helped, but it's not the only solution. Even if they raise it, there won't be an influx. Sometimes a teacher has to deal with a regular class in which seven special education children are integrated into her, without her having the proper training. She can be an amazing teacher, but at some point you break down. Teachers have to deal with violent discourse more and more. They put it on my table - I'm not ready to do what you're doing.''

"The office is not connected to the field."

An empty classroom (Photo: Flash 90, Avshalom Sassooni)

"The office is not connected to the field," the head accuses.

"He makes decisions through mediators, supervisors, department heads. The office must understand that there is a need to have a dialogue with managers. And not just those who say yes to everything, those who are not afraid to stand up and say what the problems are. We need autonomy, what is appropriate at my school is not necessarily appropriate at home Another book. Until they understand this, there will be no progress. We need to think about why so many managers are leaving. I will not leave during the crisis because I believe in the profession, but how many such people are there already?"

"We need to solve bigger problems with the same conditions and resources. As far as I'm concerned, if we open only five days a week, it will help. We're talking about a solution of two teachers per class. I'm not ready to hear about it, but I know that other administrators have done it. It's a bad solution. Teacher If you enter two classes, you won't stay for next year. It's just to mark a V. We tried to think of education that would be carried out by professional teachers to fill the hours, that would take a few children under their protection, but that's not enough. A child needs to know that he has a parent at school during the day. That when he In times of need, he doesn't have to start looking for who he turns to."

"For example, we don't really have science in the school except for the 6th grade. In the other grades it will be up to educators who don't know how to do it well. I know this in advance, I'm trying to collaborate with a science museum, but there's not much to do."

"In strong neighborhoods, private lessons will be given. In other places, the children will be left behind"

In the end it also affects the education of the students.

"True. When an inappropriate teacher comes in, we will see a class that will fall apart, that there will be many problems in the class, that a disrespectful dialogue will be created with the parents. Children will not receive the punishments that they need. In lower grades, there will be children who cannot read or who will study incorrectly, which will later lead to A problem for a few years ahead. They also receive fewer math hours because of the shortage. The office makes adjustments to what is available in the field, lowers the hours, and then it is supposedly what is needed, but it is not really. This is a joke. The children who succeed will not pay the price, they will pay it Even so, it's difficult. In strong cities and neighborhoods, the parents will give private lessons and the children will progress, but in other places they won't. In my opinion, big gaps will be created in the future. You can blame everything on the corona virus, but it's not just her," she says.

"I love the system, but many times it breaks me."

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