Laying the Foundations

Teachers’ Dialogue Enrichment Program

The last session of the first-ever teachers’ training program took place in the middle of June. In four bi-weekly meetings, facilitators Michal and Rose from the School for Peace led the primary school teaching staff through the dialogue process. “It is crucial that the school be binational, in all senses, not only for the students, but for the teaching staff, as well,” says educational director Nir Sharon. “That includes language, relations between teachers, teaching methods, comfort in speaking one’s mind and discussing difficult subjects.”

The sessions began with discussions in uni-national groups. This was a way to begin raising sometimes uncomfortable subjects as well as framing the issues that are important to building trust, sharing and cooperation. It was also an opportunity for participants to voice doubts about the upcoming process.

The final sessions were binational, involving the entire teaching staff, and it addressed issues of relations between groups, communications, pedagogy and politics. If the teachers were hesitant to take part in the process at the beginning, the final assessment was that the sessions had been a great success.

A Jewish teacher said: “Being a teacher in the Neve Shalom primary school is a unique experience. Politically, I am pro-peace, -human rights and -dialogue; I slowly started to feel that the teachers’ room is closer to my ideology than the one in my home.”

An Arab teacher described her feelings: “After the events of May (2021), the tension level in the staff room was high, and I did not feel comfortable voicing what I thought and felt. These meetings with the teachers and my colleagues gave me a safety net that allowed me to speak about the most difficult things. We are strong and secure enough that we won’t fall apart; we know how to cope with many hard issues, and what we teach the children can strengthen us as adults.”

Samah Salaime, director of Communications and Development of the Educational Institutions of Neve Shalom/ Wahat al-Salam added that the team is working to have the dialogue-based teachers’ training program recognized by the Ministry of Education (so that the teachers will receive credit for completing the sessions) and they hope to introduce it to other binational schools.

Sharon: “Next year, we will offer the program from the beginning, in monthly sessions. It has an immense impact on the school community, on the children and on the teachers, themselves.”

Visit to language centers

As part of the mission to create the ideal language center for the primary school, an ad hoc committee, including school principal Neama Abu Delo, chair of the Educational Institutions board Dr. Ariela Bairey-Ben Ishay, educational director Nir Sharon, communications and development director Samah Salaime, and executor of Anne’s trust, Eitan Kremer, went on a fact-finding tour to Jerusalem. To investigate existing models of multicultural and bilingual education, the group visited the Mandel Leadership Institute in its new home, the Hand-in-Hand high school (also in a new building) and Kedma, a social-educational non-profit that works with marginalized communities.