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| Democratic Education - New Directions |
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The Democratic School in Hadera was established in Israel in 1987. The school was founded on a long tradition of free and open schools that have operated in Israel throughout the last century. Choosing to name Democratic School reflected an insight of its founders - the wish to align school values with the central themes of a democratic society such as freedom of thought. Freedom of opinion and expression, etc. In keeping with that a decision was made to adopt the two leading values of democratic society and make them the central principles in school:
The leading rationale underlining the foundation of democratic schools is the autonomy of each group to create its own unique democratic school while adhering to the two central principles of human rights and democratic procedure. The role of the initiating group is to provide its own interpretations to those principles. 1995 was the fateful year of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assasination. The then minister of education, Mr . Amnon Rubinstein, approached Mr. Yakov hecht, Head of The Institute for Democratic Education who was at the time the principal of The Democratic School in Hadera and asked him to design a program for democratic education that will encompass the entire school system in Israel. This was a grand opportunity to leverage the ideology of democratic education in Israel. It was also the key impetus for the foundation of The Institute for Democratic Education which aimed at studying and processing the experience gleaned in democratic schools and created tools for changing educational systems. This program is no longer available due to political reasons but in the 6 years of its operation 200 schools from all sectors of Israeli society: religious, secular, Arab, Beduine, Kibbutz, periphery and center have incorporated processes of democratization into their framework. The Institute for Democratic Education is approached daily by many schools seeking assistance in processes of change which attests to the success of the program and yet we feel that the main breakthrough of the Institute in recent years is the introduction of democratization processes to local authorities. In 1999 the mayor of Mizpe Ramon, an isolated town of 5700 residents in the desert, commissioned the Institute for Democratic Education for designing a program that will transform its education system and make it a loadestone for people seeking quality life and different education for their children. Working with the entire community in Mitzpe Ramon, residents, students, private businesses, public organizations, tourist service system, local artists and more, the Institute is forming a unique education system where every student chooses a general as well as an individual curriculum from a diverse range of possibilities - ecologic farms, the planetarium, the geological museum, the supermarket, the bank, hotels etc. The Institute for Democratic Education is running such programs in five other regions that have launched a similar process, each place forming its own unique educational model which suits the specific locus and its inhabitants. In year 2000 The Institute for Democratic Education launched The Wadi Forum, a regional program based on a vision to turn the Wadi Ara region into a place where Arabs and Jews live together harmoniously. The ideas of equality, co-existence and original creative work of Arab and Jewish residents were at the core of the program. In 2001 Future Centers were set up by The Institute for Democratic Education in the regions of its operation. These centers promote processes of learning and innovativeness in towns and regions through an on going dialogue among its citizens. Partners to this dialogue are the inhabitants, the council and the business community, all contributing to the formation of social and educational programs suitable for the needs of the local community. In 2001 The Institute for Democratic Education inaugurated the faculty for democratic education in The Kibbutzim College, the most prestigious teacher training college in Israel, where students can earn their first degree in education. In a four year program the students acquire skills that enable them to:
In the mean time we are more than happy to make contact with and support every institute that is involved in similar activities in other places in the world. |
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