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Leading Change in Israeli Education
Development Life-Cycle | Work Principles | Team
The Branco Weiss Institute develops its own original educational models and adapts thinking and learning-oriented programs from leading educational institutions worldwide to the Israeli learning environment. Accordingly, the Institute has lead nationwide Israeli implementation of such frameworks and approaches as Multiple Intelligences, Inventive Thinking, Creative Thinking, Individualized Learning and other educational models and approaches relevant to Israel's K-12 system.
Our development work is based on the following premises:
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Educational practitioners have a vast amount of practical knowledge at their disposal.
The practical knowledge is rarely tapped and used as a springboard for the public refinement of ideas. -
In general, educational work does not draw on the large volume of research in education.
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Educational change needs to combine a pedagogical approach with an organizational approach.
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Effecting change in the schools requires the professional development of the faculty, administration, and principals.
How Do We Develop a Model? The Development Life-Cycle
The development of models is a spiral process that begins with the identification of a problem. This derives from a comprehensive definition of the needs involved in a major educational issue (such as working with teachers, working with principals, or literacy).
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Concept development, before going out into the field |
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Systematic study of the issue (theoretical and empirical): What is going on in this area in Israel and abroad? How is it perceived by educational practitioners? By academics? By Education Ministry staff? Etc. Defining the problem to be addressed Drafting working assumptions for the model Drafting a theory of change and a model for implementation in the schools Introducing a local pilot, run by members of the development team |
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Further development in the field |
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Evaluating the model during its development Examining the model's feasibility over time and for the entire system (by moving it to the "incubator" stage of a limited pilot); identifying relevant partners. |
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Assessment of feasibility and passing the baton to the Institute's active units |
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The members of the development teams keep revisiting their initial assumptions, their definition of the problem addressed by the model, and the underlying theory of change, in light of actual experience. |
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Work Principles
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Every project is supervised by experts in the relevant area
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Development is a team effort
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Every developer is responsible for implementing the project as well, in the incubator stage, as an integral part of the development process
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Relevant strategic partnerships are forged while the development is still taking place, to permit wider future implementation in the schools
The Development Team
The development team consists of individuals with experience in running programs and/or in teaching. Its members have analytical and academic skills as well as the ability to direct educational work in the field. They have diverse academic specialties (philosophy, Bible, anthropology, history, English literature), so as to create cross-fertilization in the thinking process.