Teaching the teachers
THERE is a worldwide shortage of Jewish studies teachers and leaders, according to senior lecturer at the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rabbi Dr Howard Deitcher.
THERE is a worldwide shortage of Jewish studies teachers and leaders, according to senior lecturer at the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rabbi Dr Howard Deitcher.
In Australia for the Zionist Federation of Australia’s (ZFA) seventh biennial Jewish educators’ conference last weekend, Rabbi Dr Deitcher told The AJN that teacher training and professional development should be a top priority and more resources should be invested in the area.
“Many communities around the world, like the US, South Africa and Latin America, are investing significant amounts of resources and money on training and ongoing development of teachers. I’m pushing very hard for this country to follow suit,” he said. “The responsibility lies with both the schools and the wider community. Each [Australian] school really has to compete for the same outstanding teachers and not many young people are going into the area.”
And with more than 300 Jewish educators descending on Melbourne last weekend to examine current issues relevant to Jewish education and engage in professional development, it was a timely call.
ZFA executive director Robbie Franco was pleased with conference proceedings.
“The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive,” Franco said. “You could feel the excitement in the air and a number of people came over saying that it was better than anything before.”
Held at Bialik College, the two-day event involved seven international and more than 20 local guest speakers.
In addition to Rabbi Dr Deitcher, other international visitors included StandWithUs Diaspora education director Michelle Rojas-Tal, Israel studies expert Scott Copeland, acclaimed Israeli journalist Ron Ben-Yishai and developmental psychologist Dr Naama Zoran. Topics ranged from Hebrew and Yiddish studies to Jewish values and texts, Israel advocacy and informal education.
Franco credited the conference organisers, and cited the calibre of the speakers and breadth of the program as the major successes.
Educators from school teachers to university lecturers and youth movement leaders were called upon for input into the program, and were invited to partake in the two-day event.
“It was a holistic effort,” Franco said.
DALIA SABLE
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