Orot Israel College Answers the Call, Offering an Accelerated Early Childhood Education Training Program

Last year, the Trajtenberg Committee on Social Justice, appointed in response to a summer filled with protests calling for Social Justice in Israeli society, strongly recommended implementing legislation passed in 1984 authorizing free pre-school for all three- and four-year-olds which had been blocked for decades. Nearly 28 years and nine prime ministers later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet voted early this year to finally implement the free pre-school for all program.
While the vote represented a watershed moment for early childhood education in Israel, the government instantaneously created a monumental challenge for the Ministry of Education: Who will teach the tens of thousands of children that will soon enter into the now free system over the coming years?
In order to implement the Trajtenberg Committee’s recommendation, the Ministry of Education designed a new early-childhood-education retraining program for university graduates looking to transfer into early childhood education. The State of Israel designated this type of program a national priority, and as of now, Orot Israel College is the only religious college authorized to offer an early-childhood-education retraining program.
The new year-long program, designed by Dr. Yael Segev and Dr. Idit Layosh, head of Orot's Department of Early Childhood Education and meets at Orot's Rehovot campus, will include two afternoons a week of classes and two days a week of supervised practical work this year, and an even more intensive schedule during the summer months. Segev and Layosh stressed that because they believe that the preschool teacher plays a significant role in a child’s emotional development, they recognized the urgency of the current situation and the need to train teachers in an abbreviated setting. While the accelerated program cannot offer the breadth and intensive training of a full four-year degree, Orot agreed to open an one-time accelerated track for outstanding, highly motivated candidates holding academic degrees, who dream of becoming preschool teachers.
Tuition for the program consists of a conditional loan issued by the Education Ministry, and after a graduate spends four years working in the field, half the loan becomes a grant!
Orot is gratified that the program proved so attractive that no empty seats remain for this one-time training program. We wish the future early-childhood teachers success in their course, and many blessings as they embark on their new careers.