Fruits of their labor: Mandel fellows present their final projects
The first week of June was a special week for fellows of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. After a long period of research, exploration, discussion, personal study and observation, they presented the culmination of their personal projects to their contemporaries, experts in the field, and Mandel faculty at the Mandel Leadership Institute. A festive mood presided as people crowded into the room to hear the innovative presentations.
“One of the central aims of the studies at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership is to strengthen the ability of the fellow to translate their world-view into a practical vision. The individual project is one of the tools for fulfilling this goal,” said Dr. Neta Sher-Hadar, a Mandel faculty member who guided fellows through the process of creating their projects.
Sher-Hadar explains that the projects were comprised of three sections: theory, research and policy. The theory was acquired through observing issues in education and society or formulating an educational or social world-view leaning on the theoretical world. Research involved the examination of the social and educational state of an organization, institution, school or other body, from a personal, educational and managerial perspective. The final stage was a call for practical action and promotion of a new initiative, either within an existing organization or the founding of a new one.
Fellows addressed different educational and social questions, in line with their own fields of interest. For example, Sleman Alkereni, a fellow who grew up in the Bedouin town of Rahat, presented, “A Program for the Enhancement of Parental Involvement in Education in Rahat.” His project outlined the challenges of parental involvement in the Rahat educational system and addressed the challenges of forming parent committees, emphasizing the critical importance of parent involvement in their children’s education. Alkereni proposed a pilot program which will form two parents groups in a Rahat elementary school at the beginning of the next academic year.
Other projects included "Social and Environmental responsibility of institutions for higher education in Israel" and "A proposal for an innovative Arts High School," which related to the question of arts education in Israel. Other fellows presented; "A new traditional Community Center"; "A center for Teacher Empowerment"; "Education for civil participation in public education"; "Yerucham – A test case of local politics"; and "Teachers & Principals and what goes between."
The criteria for the success of the projects are multi-dimensional, explains Sher-Hadar. For some fellows, the success lies in the process of the project, as they find that the consolidation and clarification of their world-view involved in creating the individual project is an effective way of summing up their two-year learning process at the Mandel Leadership Institute.
Examples of successful Mandel fellow projects from previous years that were brought to fruition are: The Semel Institute of Dr. Sarit Barzilai; the Ovnayim Institute (for the development of practical knowledge in education) of Shevi Guvrin; ‘Keshet’ High School of Ruth Lehavi; ‘Alma’ - Hebrew college of Dr. Ruth Calderon; and the organization ‘Pleasant Recovery’, founded by Granit Almog-Barakat, which coordinates dozens of volunteers in providing assistance and services to hospitalized children.