The READY model and Israel – Moving Forward

In the first three months of 2022, the Amal and Ort school educational networks, the two leading high schools chains in Israel, conducted a qualitative process of looking at READY (Reference model for Educators' Activities and Development in the 21st-century), designed by the ETF, in the context of Israeli educators and the Israeli educational system.

The methodology used in this process was based on qualitative research, including desk research, consultation surveys, and workshops. The idea was to gain the most we could within the interim project's limited timeframe from the best educators and the best leaders and managers of the school networks. We conducted virtual meetings and used a collaborative digital platform to enable all educators and staff to attend and digitally document the process. Our decision to conduct qualitative research was supported by key policy papers published in 2021 by the Israeli MoE. Both focus on today's major trends in education: emotional and social resilience and shared life (in the complex Israeli society); lifelong learning and students and educators' agency; and the urgent need for schools' pedagogical autonomy.

We focused on two groups: a group of educators who played an essential part in looking at the role of the Israeli educator in connection with the six domains of READY, their experience and future vision of their role as 21st-century educators; and a group of school principals and senior executives who helped to look at the systemic view of the school in the 21st century concerning the six domains of READY as stem from Israel's unique reality.

An example from the educators' group shows that using the method of a collaborative workshop where every educator provides their insight with their peers enabled us to get deeper insight and understanding regarding the components of READY and the relations between and among the domains in reference to practice. The use of Miro (http://miro.com) as a collaborative environment enhanced both the learning and the creative processes. In these interactive workshops (which we highly recommend) we refined the strong correlation between Israeli teachers' and educators' perceptions and READY’s six domains. The following Miro board which was captured from the teachers’ workshop shows the pedagogical development of a project “The road from ‘risk to chance’ via painting”, taking disadvantaged students to success by integrating several READY’s domains, such as adaptability, inclusion, and engagement, culminating in implementation of lifelong learning.

We were also able to define some of the unique features of the Israeli education system, such as social diversity, the significant role of informal youth movements, to name just two, and the need to look at the relation between READY’s domains to construct new pedagogical narratives.

We believe that READY can play a leading model in both Amal and Ort schools educational network in many education spheres – pedagogy, curriculum, professional development, management, schools relations with the community, external stakeholders, etc., and as such to impact the entire education system in Israel. Thus, our recommendation for innovative implementation of READY in Israel in the future is based on the perception that READY can be the ecosystem or the framework that sets the principles under which new and innovative pedagogy will be developed.