Israeli Ministry of Education’s district managers’ and superintendents’ role as educational leaders—implementing the new policy for teachers’ professional development

Abstract

In Israel, the Ministry of Education determines all aspects of educational policy, including teachers’ initial teacher education, licensing and professional development. As part of the New Horizon educational reform, the Ministry announced in 2010 a new plan for the professional development of teachers in Israel. The Ministry assigned a mediating role to its district managers and superintendents, placing them in charge of introducing and implementing this policy. The current study describes the findings of a qualitative, narrative-based research, which examined the attitudes of 25 Ministry of Education district managers and superintendents regarding the implementation of the new professional development policy. Interviewees noted both the major advantages of this policy, e.g. organizing the professional development process and including all of the teachers, as well as its many disadvantages, e.g. overburdening the teachers, the lack of high-quality teacher trainers, etc. This study sheds light on the process of implementing a top-down reform in teachers’ professional development. Moreover, it sheds light on the main tasks of superintendents as educational leaders.