"This should be the policy: to see the teaching profession as a challenge, a vision, and a national role"
Three education college presidents describe a crisis in the teaching profession: low attractiveness, high dropout rates (25% within three years), insufficient salaries, and lack of support. They propose adapting training to AI challenges and 21st-century skills, and expanding the educator's role as a therapist and emotional anchor for students who experienced wartime.
Three education college presidents paint a grim picture of the teaching profession in Israel: low attractiveness, disappointing personal level, high and rapid dropout, fear of dealing with the system and parents, insufficient salary, and inadequate support. Prof. Haim Shaked describes a mixed trend in enrollment numbers, with a decline over the past five years, and emphasizes the shortage of quality teachers. He notes a drastic increase in the dropout rate, which tripled within a decade and now stands at 25% dropping out within three years. Prof. Smadar Donitsa Schmidt speaks of the need to adapt training programs to the challenges of technology and artificial intelligence, emphasizing 21st-century skills, critical thinking, and teamwork. Ilana Levenberg highlights the expansion of the educator's role as a therapist, leader, and emotional anchor, given students who experienced a long period of war days, anxiety, and existential threat. The article offers general solutions but does not detail a concrete policy plan.