The Morasha – Kol Israel Haverim School Principals Conference
Michal Artzi
Some 30 school principals from state schools, religious and secular - from Kiryat Shemona in the North to Yeruham in the South - participated in the annual Morasha – Kol Israel Haverim School Principals Seminar held in Jerusalem in March of this year.
The choice of the conference's topic– The Role of Schools in Shaping Jewish- Israeli identity in a Multicultural Society – reflected the Morasha staff's commitment to meeting the needs of the principals working in the Morasha school network. Many principals reported that the student populations of the schools they lead are heterogeneous and composed of diverse identities. The heterogeneity is expressed through the diversity of Israeli-Jewish identities and, in some of the schools, includes non-Jewish identities. The school principals raised numerous questions concerning the way a school should or might act as an identity-shaping agent in Israeli society.
The discussion held on the topic was a central feature of the conference, during which attempts were made to propose answers to some of the questions. Three educators and intellectuals, each in his or her field, participated: Dr. Yehuda Maimaran, CEO of Kol Israel Haverim, Dr. Nir Michaeli, Chairperson of the Pedagogical Secretariat, and Ms. Lisa Levy, Department Head at the Avnei Rosha Institute for School Principals, who presented a school model in which religious and non-religious pupils study together.
One of the central discussions during the panel concerned the enormous importance held by the idea of pluralism in a multicultural society. Pluralism is expressed in education that recognizes differences and strives to create itself by maintaining a dialogue with the diversity of voices and identities belonging to pupils and their families. The evening ended with the screening of Mashgihim, a moving film, and was followed by a conversation with Manny Yaish, the film's director, on the clashes between different values and the need for reinforcing identity, social issues with which principals are well acquainted through their own work.
The second part of the seminar focused on the Morasha Principles Orientation that includes Morasha's seven educational principles. The workshops included peer study sessions and allowed for personal examination of one of the seven central values in the orientation wheel. The workshop, dealing with "the primary school objective concerning education to Jewish social values", placed its emphasis on focusing towards the future and acquiring practical skills for implementing orientating principles in school vision and goals.
The seminar ended with a lecture by Dalit Stauber, previously the Ministry of Education CEO, on "Ministry of Education Goals versus School Goals".
