Israel's Education System Has Lost its Compass
The education system is obligated to create, for all students in Israeli society, a common foundation for life in a Jewish and democratic state. This includes the ability of students to engage in difficult discussions and requires educators who are grounded in civic responsibility and democratic values.
Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90
A new school year begins this week in Israel, but the celebratory tone from the Ministry of Education cannot obscure the harsh reality the education system is facing. Reports of school principals calling for the return of the hostages and an end to the war, met with disciplinary action by the Ministry of Education, serve as just one reminder that the education system is not detached from the reality of the past two years and cannot ignore it.
In the weeks leading up to the start of the school year, the public discourse has focused on three key areas: the severe shortage of teachers, the need for the rapid integration of artificial intelligence and STEM studies, and the ongoing politicization in the Ministry of Education. The latter includes questions of budgetary discrimination between the educational streams, restricting the ability of educators to express themselves regarding the war, and the introduction of national religious-oriented content as part of a program to expand focus on Jewish identity in state education.
The debate of these issues is usually conducted separately, but they tell one story: they story of an Israeli society that has lost its democratic compass when it comes to the education of our children.
The education system is obligated to create, for all students in Israeli society, a common foundation for life in a Jewish and democratic state—one that is rife with disagreements and divisions. This foundation cannot rely only on science and technology, nor represent narrow sectoral conceptions of identity and values. It must include the ability to engage in discussion on difficult issues, critical thinking, respect for human rights and for diversity, alongside knowledge of Jewish and Israeli heritage. This requires educators who are grounded in civic responsibility and democratic values.
The crisis in the teaching profession is the linchpin for addressing today’s many urgent challenges. In a survey we conducted ahead of the new school year, 50% of respondents across all sectors of society identified the teaching crisis as the most pressing issue facing the education system. By contrast, only about 11% pointed to student achievement in the sciences as the central challenge.
This is not merely a numbers game of finding ‘someone’ to stand in front of a classroom, but a fundamental question about the status of the profession itself. Society and its elected officials consistently and systematically disparage educators and erode their professional autonomy. That autonomy is the freedom to equip students with the tools to understand and navigate the world they live in, rather than imposing on them whatever the Minister of Education dictates they should think.
A directive from the Ministry of Education’s Director General identifies critical thinking and open discussion of political issues as core educational goals, and makes clear that teachers may express political views so long as they are not partisan. Yet the summoning of principals to a hearing in recent weeks—simply for expressing an educational and moral stance on the hostages and the ongoing war, entirely in line with the ministry’s own stated principles—delivers a chilling blow to teachers’ ability to be true educators rather than mere stand-ins in the classroom.
The ongoing disparagement of the profession leads to a growing teacher shortage and to the dropout of quality teachers. Policymakers often cite the McKinsey Report of 2007, which determined that “the quality of a school system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.” And yet, over the years, almost no profound steps have been taken to change the status of teachers and the prestige of the profession. This harms not only the level of knowledge and achievement, but mainly the civic and democratic resilience of Israeli society.
The time has come to make the renewal of teaching and education a true national priority—one that places at its heart educators who think independently and who are committed to the values of the Declaration of Independence and to the core aims of state education. Above all is the charge to cultivate students who hold empathy and compassion towards their fellow citizens. Only with such a vision can we begin to restore Israeli society and lead it away from trends of democratic, social, and moral decline.
Dr. Tammy Hoffman is Head of the Education Policy Program at the Israel Democracy Institute.