Shaveh Center for Equity and Social Inclusion
Director: Dr. Nivi Gal-Arieli
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The Shaveh Center for Equity and Social Inclusion was established at the Oranim College of Education as a result of the College’s commitment to articulating and promoting the educational values that underlie its work. These values apply to all levels of the educational system, from early childhood education to teacher education. The goal of the Center is to advance strategies for equity in education and to promote diversity and equal rights as guiding principles for every educator, whether working in the classroom, the school, the community, or educational policy.
Goals:
- Weakening and ultimately eliminating the proven link between socioeconomic level and academic achievement in Israel.
- Weakening and ultimately eliminating the underlying structures in the Israeli educational system that do not respect the cultural diversity of communities that make up Israeli society.
- Limiting and ultimately eliminating the use of exclusive practices in our educational institutions.
Areas of Action:
- Developing teacher education programs that promote social inclusion in education and create equal opportunities for the personal and social development of each student.
- Adopting an organizational approach that enables educational institutions to implement programs promoting social inclusion and equity.
- Building a network of schools that put social inclusion and equity into practice.
- Recruiting local governments to integrate and systematically implement social inclusion in education as a guiding principle, including: adoption of educational policies that support social inclusion and equity in education; elimination of educational tracking; use of pedagogical strategies of social inclusion in the classroom; participation of all the different communities in local government; and cooperation between different local governments.
- Doing research, writing position papers, and facilitating discussions and conferences that promote social inclusion and equity in education, on both the classroom level and the policy level.
- Developing and advocating for educational models that promote social inclusion and equity in education.
Guiding Principles:
- Practice what you preach: The Center is committed to promoting social inclusion and equity within the College.
- Place teaching at the center: The Center is dedicated to teachers, because they are the heart of educational activity. This dedication means that the Center provides both pre-service teacher education and in-service teacher mentoring.
- Connection between academics and the field: The Center is committed to developing a reciprocal relationship between the field of education, research, and its implementation in practice. As a result, the Center will supervise educational processes, including gathering information, monitoring and evaluation, and implementing research results in the field.