The education system is on the verge of an explosion: "Fewer and fewer young people believe in democracy"

The central problem of the education system begins with the teachers, with the great burnout that exists in schools," claims Tzvya Anpanger-Almaliah, an educator, founder of the "Tzofen Yahalom" organization – entrepreneurship and training for education and leadership. Anpanger-Almaliah has held a series of roles in the system, from teacher to director of the education department of the Lachish Regional Council.

"There are many reasons for teacher burnout," she says. "For example, parental intervention, overload, a lot of bureaucracy. A teacher arrives with big dreams, wants to influence, but feels they are burning out, and leaves. If once a teacher would leave during the first five years of their work, today they are already talking about leaving during the first three years. Likewise, fewer and fewer are enrolling in education and teaching faculties, and as a result, admission requirements are being lowered."

Do you have a solution? "To break this cycle, you need to put the teacher in the center. Our most expensive resource in the State of Israel is human capital. Those who are entrusted with its development and preservation are the teachers. Educational teams and principals need to be equipped with practical tools that strengthen their organizational capability and resilience. To turn burnout into action."

How is this done? "In our activities, for example, we strengthen their sense of mission, remind them why they chose this profession. We also deal with everything related to professionalism, that is, the way they mediate content to students. Today all content is in the media, so the teacher must mediate in an interesting way to intrigue children, to make students want to learn. This will also increase the students' appreciation for the teacher."

"Another thing that needs to be emphasized, according to Anpanger-Almaliah, is the issue of boundaries in school, which are sometimes breached in front of students and parents. A school is an organization that has rules. There is a school code, but sometimes they give up."

Likewise, according to her, there is importance in identifying weaknesses in the educational institution and treating them immediately: "Today there are periodic external surveys on behalf of the Ministry of Education or on behalf of the authority, but they are not internal surveys. It is important to create an internal organizational infrastructure where there will be meaning for the teacher, so they feel they have a voice. We, for example, have developed a smart digital management system that provides school administrations and teachers with a data-based management tool."

How can this help? "The teaching staff is responsible for entering the data and the system monitors human and organizational aspects on an ongoing basis. Teachers are asked a short question in the app a few times a week, every teacher gets a voice, it reaches the school administration and there is also a call to action. Combined with an AI system, there are recommendations for concrete action as a derivative of the data. It becomes part of the routine.

"For example, teachers report a weakness in maintaining discipline in the school, and it is treated immediately. Schools need a system that monitors the situation on an ongoing basis and can provide an answer at the initial stage. Such a system that identifies the centers of burnout versus the factors of resilience and offers operative solutions, including creating a systematic and measurable work process. Instead of external intervention, an internal focus is created, which also strengthens the teacher's sense of belonging and meaning."

Kindergartens as a top priority

"To improve the situation, we don't deal with salary and not with 'more teachers' because in the current situation there won't be more teachers. Teachers are leaving not because of the salary, but because they are tired," says Amos Shapira, chairman of the Shapira Committee – education through the prism of special education, which was established to increase the integration of students with special needs into the regular education system.

"Naturally, we also dealt with the system integrating the regular education system," notes Shapira. "This system is not capable today of providing proper education even to students who are not formally defined as having special needs."

According to Shapira, who previously served, among other things, as president of the University of Haifa, there are several things that must be fixed: "The stage that needs to be started with and that will be the top priority is kindergartens and daycare centers. Kindergarten teachers are currently at the bottom of the Ministry of Education's priority list. You don't have to be a genius to understand that a child in a kindergarten of 30 children, almost twice the situation in OECD countries, cannot receive education. You need to reduce the classes, and ensure much better guidance and training for kindergarten teachers."

In schools, Shapira clarifies, the situation is similar: "Guidance and training of teachers are lacking. The Ministry of Education allocates tens of millions for on-the-job training, but ask if there is follow-up, and what teachers think about these trainings.

In the end, human resources are the main force. And as mentioned, there is also the matter of class size. There is no situation where you can provide good education in classes of 30 children and even more. Student achievements also drop because of this. And if a child struggles, eventually they develop a lag in the material, they feel frustration and also start to disturb."

What do you suggest? "They say that reducing classes can create a budgetary problem, and I say it's not a matter of money. Instead of students in Israel sitting for many hours without results, let them reduce the classes and have each class study fewer hours. It will be more effective."

The ability to educate for values

"In the education system there are many long-standing problems: crowded classes, violence, teacher salaries. But the discrimination against state education has reached its peak in this government," says Rami Hod, CEO of the Berl Katznelson Foundation's Ideological Center, one of the initiators of the establishment of the coalition to save state education that began its activity at the beginning of the month.

The coalition includes experts from the field of education, heads of authorities, academics and researchers, educational teams, parents, and students, who have united with the goal of returning education to the heart of the public and political agenda.

"One aspect of this discrimination is budgetary. A child in state education receives less than a child in state-religious education," claims Hod, author of the book "Zero Hour: How we gave up on education and got a regime coup – and how we will fix it."

"The second aspect, which we have seen throughout Minister Kisch's entire term, is the persecution of principals and teachers in state education. They tend to look at the shortage of teachers only through salary, but it is also a matter of independence and the ability to engage in education for values."

Elaborate, please. "It started with going out in the media against teachers who expressed themselves against the regime coup, continued with summoning school principals who posted a video in which they called for the end of the war and the return of the hostages to clarification talks.

"It is serious, because it creates a chilling effect. Principals and teachers see things and understand that if they want to engage in education, in critical thinking, they have no place to do so in state education.

"This, and the budgetary discrimination are two very significant issues that weaken state education and drive away young, principled people who want to influence the future generation. We are witnessing a values crisis, in which fewer and fewer teenagers believe in democracy and equality and many follow extremist politicians. This is also one of the results of neglecting state education."

What is the solution you propose? "That politicians and parties who believe in liberal democracy storm the Ministry of Education – not only in the next government, but in the next 20 years. You need to put education high on the priority list, fix the discrimination, and color this budget addition as education for values, for democracy, for pluralism, not just for cyber.

"One of the problems today is that young teachers leave within a range of three-five years. You need, of course, to raise teachers' salaries significantly, but you also need to allow them to engage in education. I think that if Hebrew state education stands tall, more principled young people will come to it, and fewer teachers will leave."