Author
Executive Summary
Research by the Chair of the Taub Center Education Policy Program, Nachum Blass, presents findings indicating positive changes in the education system over time and paints an unexpectedly optimistic picture. Student achievements on international tests are improving, even if they are still not equal to their OECD peers; the number of students per teacher has fallen and the number of instruction hours has risen; the education level of teachers has improved as well as the share of teachers who are teaching the subjects that they specialized in in their training. The most significant finding is the student assessment of improvements in the school environment.
Budget and academic achievements
The study shows that despite an improvement in academic achievements among Arab students along with the budget for this sector, their achievements are still not equal to those of students in the other sectors. An analysis of the budget changes for the Ministry of Education between 2012 and 2020 shows clearly that the largest increase in budget per students was in the Arab and Bedouin education sector, while the increases in budget in the Hebrew and Druze education sectors were much more moderate.
An examination of academic achievements over time shows that scores on the Meitzav exams in Grade 5 in mathematics have improved consistently and gaps between Arab and Jewish students are also consistently narrowing. In English, there has been a continuous improvement in scores for all students, especially among Arabic-speakers, where the gap has nearly disappeared.
On the Grade 8 Meitzav exams, the overall score for Arabic-speakers improved a great deal. In mathematics, there was an improvement in scores across all sectors, with only a minimal improvement, though, among Hebrew-speakers. In English, the overall score also improved, with the main rise in score among Arabic-speakers. The greatest overall improvement was seen in the sciences.
In high school, the share of those in Grade 12 who qualified for a Bagrut (matriculation) certificate rose between 2010 and 2019 from 60% to 70%. Here, too, improvements in the Arab education sector are most pronounced, with a 39% rise – from 50.1% to almost 70%.
Between 2000 and 2019, the overall number of students in the education system grew by 49%. In the same period, the budget for the education system grew by 90% and the number of instruction hours increased by 115%. The number of education workers in the system also increased in the past decade by an annual average of about 3.2%. Between 2010 and 2021, the number of high school mathematics teachers grew by 47% and in the remaining science subjects by 34%. The significance of these numbers is that the resources available to the education system today are much greater than those that were available just a decade ago.
Teaching workforce — the quality of teachers and their education levels
The study examined the match between teacher training and the subjects that they teach for language arts (Hebrew), mathematics and English. Blass found that in primary school, only 20% of teachers in the Hebrew State system have appropriate training — a statistic that has not changed in the last decade. In contrast, in the Arab education system, native Arabic speakers have special training for Hebrew as a second language and so their share of teachers with appropriate training in this subject is closer to 60%.
In middle school and high school, the situation with regard to language arts (Hebrew) is better than in primary school, although a clear deterioration can be seen. Here, too, the situation in the Arab education system is better than in the Hebrew system. Some of this could be attributed to the sharp reduction in the number of students in humanities and social sciences and the approach of the education system which has emphasized the importance of mathematics and English. Thus, there is a notable improvement over time in the match between teachers and their training in mathematics and English although there are a great number of teachers without the training required by the Ministry of Education.
School environment
The study compared the answers on the RAMA questionnaire of school environment (relations between students in the school, between teachers and students, feelings of safety at school, etc.), for 2009/2010 and 2019/2020. Most of the students at every level of education indicated feelings of improvement in these variables, with only a few students in high school indicating no change.
In terms of school environment, the improvements were greater in the Arab education system than in the Hebrew system. In high school, there were areas with greater improvement in the Arab system, and others where the improvements were more notable in the Hebrew system. An important point to note is that many students indicated experiencing verbal violence or physical violence from teachers. Although in primary and middle school there was an improvement in this variable, the situation seems to have worsened in high schools.
The study found that the generally held public feeling that the Israeli education system is in a state of decline is not substantiated by the data. Nevertheless, even with the overall trend towards improvement in the system’s achievements, there remains a great deal of work in narrowing gaps between population groups, improving student’s academic achievements, and improving school environments. It is worthwhile to encourage all of those who deal in education to continue applying their skills towards better academic achievements and showing that there is a pay-off to their efforts.