One measure of the economic and cultural strength of a country is the level of its citizens' literacy since literacy is important for integration in the occupational and social world. In Israel, about one-third of the students exhibit literacy difficulties. Furthermore, literacy level gaps between the upper and the lower percentile are among the largest of 43 OECD countries. Israeli children, therefore, need support in literacy acquisition. Several public committees have discussed ways supporting education on these issues, basing their conclusion on current research. However, only two Hebrew books were published on the subject since the 1990's. This book attempts to address this scarcity. The book focuses on learners' literacy development and includes suggestions for intervention programs for supporting the literacy of children. It presents recent studies and programs of the best Israeli researchers on mono and bilingual learners, on children with normal development and those with special needs. This book is suitable for policy makers, psychologists, school teachers, kindergarten teachers, educational counselors, language and learning diagnosticians and therapists, teachers for reading rehabilitation, university, and college researchers, teachers and students. This book was written in honor of Prof. Iris Levin's (Tel Aviv University, Israel) retirement. Prof. Levin is a renowned and influential researcher, has studied early literacy for over 35 years, and has published in leading journals. She is among the leaders of the early literacy policy in Israel. The editors of the book, Dr. Dorit Aram and Dr. Ofra Korat, were Prof. Levin's students and are now her colleagues.

Religious traditions are intrinsically tied to educational systems and their pedagogical methods. The linkage between them is among the most important cultural and historical subjects that bear on human societies in general and Jewish society in particular, and questions pertinent to that linkage arise in both the religious and the educational spheres. On the religious side, such questions might involve the way in which religiousvalues can be transmitted from one generation to the next. What institutional, cognitive, and emotional mechanisms are employed by a given society in bequeathing its religious concepts and values to the younger generation? On the educational side, one might ask about the dynamics of change with respect to values, modes of thought, and forms of conduct. What role does the educational system play in implementing changes or reforms of this nature? Is there truly a clash, as is often assumed, between religious norms and critical thought, between emphasizing discipline and educating for autonomy, or between reliance on a tradition and openness to innovation? Who are the religious authorities that devise and formulate the educational process, and in what ways do disputes over the educational process reflect a struggle between competing authorities? What is the relationship between religious and “secular” authorities (such as magistrates, officials, or governmental bodies) in a given society, and to what extent do these relations affect the nature of education within that society? And, finally, atwhom is the system of religious education aimed gender perspectives.

The basic assumption in the studies presented in this book is that you can reveal teachers thoughts about learning processes by watching them teach. Therefore, these studies are based on observing lessons and practice sessions.

The use of narratives in social science research has increased enormously during recent decades, and has generated theoretical developments and fascinating empirical insights that have crystallized into an overall "narrative turn". Written and oral stories, diaries and interviews, serve as central channels in narrative research, supplying a multilayered glimpse into personal identities as well as into the social and cultural realities in which people live and develop. In the chapters of this book, Israeli researchers from various disciplines tackle theoretical, methodological, and applicable issues associated with narrative research. Diverse aspects are discussed: What is a narrative and why is it perceived as a central channel for our experiences and identities and for the meanings we ascribe to ourselves and to our world? What is "narrative thinking"? Is narrative research a paradigm? What distinguishes narrative research from other types of qualitative research? How are narrative research and feminism connected? The chapters of this book also deal with the complex relationship between narrative researchers and their research participants - the narrators - and with issues associated with the interpretation of narratives and the rich world of "narratives in action" in a variety of life domains.

Emile , the greatest philosophical essay of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is considered a masterpiece not only in educational thought but also social and political philosophy.

About 350,000 Jewish children are currently enrolled in Jewish day-schools, in every continent other than Antarctica. This is the first book-length consideration of life in such schools and of their relationship both to the Jewish community and to society as a whole. It provides a rich sense of how community is constructed within Jewish schools, and of how they contribute to or complicate the construction of community in the wider society. The volume reframes day-school research in three ways. First, it focuses not just on the learner in the day-school classroom but sees schools as agents of and for the community. Second, it brings a truly international perspective to the study of day-schools, viewing them in relation to the socio-cultural contexts from which they emerge and where they have impact. Third, it considers day-school education in relation to insights derived from the study and practice of non-parochial education. This cross-cultural and genuinely comparative approach to the study of Jewish schooling draws on research from the United States, the former Soviet Union, South America, and Europe, making it possible to arrive at important and original insights into parochial Jewish schooling. With contributions from outstanding scholars as well as practitioners of public education and of Jewish parochial schooling, the volume reveals conflicting conceptions of the social functions of schooling and also produces original insights into the capacity of schools to build community. The book is timely in that it studies questions about faith-based schooling and the public good that today are as much questions of public policy as they are of academic inquiry. It will appeal first and foremost to those with a particular interest in Jewish schooling but will also attract the attention of academics and professionals concerned with the place of parochial education in contemporary society. CONTRIBUTORS Ami Bouganim, Erik H. Cohen, Ira Dashefsky, Howard Deitcher, Jay Dewey, Joshua Elkin, Yoel Finkelman, Zvi Gitelman, Scott J. Goldberg, Ellen B. Goldring, Yossi J. Goldstein, Eli Kohn, Jeffrey S. Kress, Binyamin Krohn, Jon A. Levisohn, Ilana Maryles Sztokman, Deborah Meier, Helena Miller, Christine Müller, Michal Muszkat Barkan, Alex Pomson, Joseph Reimer, Randal Schnoor, Susan L. Shevitz, Asher Shkedi, Claire Smrekar, Uriel Ta’ir, Michael Turetsky, Rahel Wasserfall Published for the Melton Centre for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

We are proud to present our readers with volume 13 of our series Studies in Jewish Education . This volume is concerned with the possibility of "translating" insights derived from areas of knowledge sometimes thought to be outside the purview of education – to issues and problems on the agenda of educational thinkers, researchers and practitioners. As we have learned from our teachers, Prof. Seymour Fox, of blessed memory, and Prof. Michael Rosenak (may he be granted many more years of prolific creativity) – "translating" from philosophical systems or lead concepts, from principles deriving from the tradition of Jewish thought, or from cultural visions – to educational thought and practice, is a most complex matter. Some prefer to work in the "normative" mode, wherein normative world views are "translated" from fundamental philosophical "principles" to educational " ideals ," "goals" and "means." In the transition from one category to the next, however, certain terms must necessarily be modified or reinterpreted. This process is both enriching and impoverishing – as certain understandings are inevitably "lost" in translation even as other insights are gained. Others prefer to work in the "deliberative" mode, beginning from symptoms of malaise emanating from the field of educational practice, accessing world-views and disciplines of knowledge in order to arrive at an informed formulation of the "problem," then generating alternative solutions to the "problem" – alternatives from among which some will be chosen for implementation and others, perhaps just as promising, will have to be discarded or shelved. For those who feel more at home in this mode – worldviews, concepts, disciplines and cultural visions do not function as overarching norms, but rather as "resources," drawn upon to the degree that they are seen to address problems as experienced by those affected by them. As if this were not complex enough, Prof. Rosenak has reminded us that neither mode – normative or deliberative – is, or should be sufficient in itself. On the one hand, normative discourse that does not also have its "ears to the ground," picking up on current educational problems and addressing them in terms intelligible to those who suffer from them, will end up being sterile and hortatory. Deliberative discourse, on the other hand, is always anchored in normative assumptions, without which one could not articulate what it is about the "problem" that is "problematic," or in need of amelioration. According to Rosenak, there must be a constant, dialectical interaction between the normative and deliberative modes if educational issues are to be addressed both honestly and intelligently.

Studies in Language and Language Education – Essays in Honor of Elite Olshtain is a collection of state-of-the-art articles on current issues in language education, examined from individual and societal perspectives. The chapters address these issues by exploring empirical evidence from written and spoken forms of language, following a variety of communicative, educational, developmental and cultural research agendas. Together, the works in this volume create a continuum ranging from infancy to adulthood, in mono- or multilingual contexts and among native and immigrant populations. This book is a tribute to Elite Olshtain's wide array of academic endeavors, and will be of great interest to researchers, pre- and post-qualifying practitioners and students at the graduate and post-graduate levels, in the domains of language acquisition, multilingualism, discourse analysis, language and education, learning and teaching, language planning and language policy.

The book takes us on a journey to explore various elements of the Israeli School System. We acquaint ourselves simultaneously with a growing educational structure, and with Israeli society and culture. The Israeli School System was created during the first stages of Israeli history, and was in turn an important factor in the creation of Israeli society. Throughout its existence, either intentionally or not, the Israeli School System has had a profound influence on the formation of Israeli culture, to the effect that national culture and the National School System reflect each other, underscoring their mutual difficulties and struggles. Thus, familiarizing oneself with the Israeli School System entails a familiarization with Israeli society in its entirety, its various concerns, history, and future expectations. This book presents the various traits of the Israeli School System, its challenges and achievement. The approach taken in this work is that knowledge and familiarization are necessary tools for understanding, empathy, criticism and improvement. The author's aim is to provide an overview of the Israeli System of Education, underscoring its various currents and agenda, the different populations that it serves, the range of age groups that it enrolls, the variety of different institutions that it oversees, and the diverse challenges that it faces. This book does not provide a thorough study of each of the above topics, but rather a general historical overview to the entire Israeli School System, inviting the readers to continue this journey on their own path, to investigate and to conduct further research.