Bar-Ilan University | President’s Report 2022

30 According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of students is expected to grow by a whopping 70 percent in the next three decades. This increase would be a major challenge for any educational systemtoaccommodate,but inthecase of Israel—a state that absorbs sizeable numbers of immigrants frommore than 70 different countries every year—it can prove especially difficult. Especially, explainsDeanof theFacultyof Education Yaacov (Koby) Yablon, for its teachers. “As much as 25 percent of the country’s new teachers decide to leave the fieldwithin just a fewyears,” he says. “Classrooms are a space where far more than teaching takes place, but teacher training rarely attempts to develop social and emotional competencies, and specifically skills in communication and conflict management. As a result,” concludes Yablon, “our schools lose hundreds of idealistic, intelligent young teachers and educators each year.” The key to ensuring the quality of education, Yablon believes, lies in strengthening Israel’s system of teacher training and professional development. This year, Bar-Ilan showed that it agrees: The School of Education is now officially the University’s ninth faculty. With a new, more expansive mandate to design and disseminate research for improved instruction and student learning, the Faculty of Education is already advancing a range of projects that prove it’s embracing its responsibility. “Our goal is nothing less than changing the national and even international approach to education,” says Yablon. “We have the expertise and the motivation to improve understanding, policies, and practices. Now, we also have the vote of confidence and the resources to do it—and we will.” 9 faculties in total for Bar-Ilan Prof. Yaacov Yablon The Faculty of Education

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