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High school teachers contemplate strike over new English lit program
By Cnaan Liphshiz

Veteran English teachers this week criticized the Education Ministry for "forcing" a controversial new program for teaching English literature at high schools and said going ahead with the plan could lead to a strike. Critics say the plan exploits teachers and ignores weaker pupils, but proponents say it reintroduces literature into the classroom while encouraging independent thought.

The new plan, which is supposed to be implemented nationally in September, was one of the central issues discussed on Monday and Tuesday at the annual conference of the English Teachers' Association of Israel, held in Jerusalem.
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Citing the additional unpaid work the program is expected to generate, the Secondary School Teachers Association called for a boycott of the initiative after it was announced last year.

"The ministry is forcing this program upon and pushing it down our throats despite sanctions and despite serious pedagogical concerns," said a senior teacher from Jerusalem on condition of anonymity. The teacher, a veteran immigrant from South Africa, argued the ministry must first resolve the dispute with the teachers' union and only then set about implementing the program. "As things stand, teachers have two bad options: Either be scabs, or not know what to teach," she added.

As of the upcoming school year, 10th graders will study English literary texts using the new method, which is meant to develop their ability to use both basic comprehension skills and more complex analytical skills by motivating students and getting them personally involved in the stories taught.

To elicit involvement, the ministry issued guidelines asking teachers to adopt new ways of engaging pupils, for example by encouraging them to focus on their phrases and characters of choice as well as to express their own reactions to the text. The designers of the program - which ran as a pilot from November to February in select schools across the country - say it raises students' awareness to the study material.

More work, no pay

But some teachers say that this means that the program - which is meant to replace certain sections of the matriculation exam, or Bagrut - will mean more work for educators for no extra pay.

Some extra work may owe to the fact that the new scheme allows students to submit long written assignments, which teachers will have to evaluate, instead of exams, which are normally graded by qualified checkers outside the school. The assignment could determine a third of the final matriculation grade on writing skills.

Though it may deepen students' understanding and enjoyment of texts, the introduction of new subjects - such as the historical, social and cultural contexts of authors and their bodies of work - will also mean more hours for teachers for the same pay.

This prompted the secondary teachers association to boycott the program, which could lead to an English-teacher strike next year. The association instructed members not to participate in a 56-hour teacher training course offered by the Education Ministry ahead of the new program.

Despite this call, some association members attended the course and even more signed up after the ministry opened an online tutoring program for teachers interested in acquainting themselves with the program which they are soon expected to teach. According to the Jerusalem teacher, the training course for the new program was attended by some 55 people, 75 percent of whom were members of the teachers association.

Rivka Lewenstein, a New York-born teacher with 11 years of experience who works at the Beit Ulpana school in Jerusalem, says she heard positive feedback at the annual conference from colleagues who underwent the training program.

"The old program meant literature was simply not being taught in some schools, so in that respect it could bring about a very needed and positive change," she said. However, Lewenstein - who on Monday delivered a talk on the new program at the annual English teachers' association conference - added it does seem to require "some extra work by teachers."

An equally serious concern is whether all students - meaning students studying for the simpler four-point exam as well as the ones preparing for the more challenging five-point test - will be able to cope with the literary texts the program aims to teach.

Lewenstein - who also runs A.E.L Publications, a producer of English text books - says that her "gut instinct is that stronger students might be fine, but four-point students might not be able to deal with the material."

Though she welcomes the reintroduction of literature into the classroom, the teacher from Jerusalem says her four-point students will not be able to cope. "They can hardly deal with relatively simple short stories," she said. "Introducing higher order thinking skills in a foreign language is difficult. It should be introduced in Hebrew and gradually extended."

The ministry commented that the new program "suits all pupils in their different levels." Anat Zohar, the ministry's director of pedagogical affairs, said: "Pupils with difficulties receive support and reinforcement by teachers." Data on the subject suggest that pupils with difficulties are capable of overcoming their limitations and reaching scholastic achievements in text analyses, she added.

The ministry's spokeswoman, Michal Tzadoki, said the subject of additional payment will come up for discussion next week, in a meeting between the ministry's director-general and the chairman of the teachers' association.
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