Vision
The Meitarim Inclusive Jewish Education & Community Network breaks down the polarization that exists in Israel between religious and secular societies by developing and supporting a network of integrated secular-religious schools and communities that instill Jewish and universal values. Founded in 2001 by Rabbi Michael Melchior, Meitarim helps students, parents and community members develop strong Jewish identities, while finding common ground as Jews and Israelis.
Activity
The Ministry of Education, the major provider of curriculum and the educational pedagogy in Israeli schools lags far behind in updating its curriculum to make it relevant, useful and engaging for schools and students today. This is coming at a time when Israeli students continue to fall farther behind their peers in OECD countries, as shown in the recent OECD PISA Student Assessment Tests.
In order to take on this challenge and update the curriculum and educational pedagogy, Meitarim seeks to provide a forum that will allow school principals, educational coordinators and senior staff as well as educational experts within Meitarim’s network to work together and find concrete ways to address the pressing educational issues and needs of today’s students in Israel. The goal is to create and implement, throughout Meitarim’s national network and beyond, innovative learning processes, activities and projects that are creative and relevant for the needs of today’s students.
- Identify students’ needs within the next five years
- Create an educational pedagogy that both addresses the needs of students and engages them.
- Implement the program in Meitarim’s network of schools.
- Utilize the program to work with the Ministry of Education to adopt the program and implement it across the entire educational system.