Ever since the 1990 National Jewish Population Study revealed the high rates at which Jews were intermarrying, millions of dollars have poured into the educational field to either increase the number of young Jews participating in models believed to work (e.g., day schools, camps, and Israel programs) or to innovate those models deemed failing – notably congregational education. The linchpin of innovation is our ability to radically improve the way teachers teach.
There is no way to transform learning without changing teaching, and thus teachers. Yet, we have been working at this problem without sufficiently taking into account that the deficiencies of Jewish education are only a symptom of a much larger shift in the underlying landscape of what it means to be Jewish in contemporary society. There have been notable successes over the last two decades in teacher education and we have many congregational schools “that work.”
Yet, our record of changing the practice of teachers in congregational settings is still woefully inadequate. Many reasons have been put forth: from “we don’t pay enough to hire talented educators” to “put a good teacher in a dysfunctional institution and the institution wins all the time.” Both of these are likely true; but insufficiently so.
Continue reading at eJewishPhilanthropy.com.
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