המכללה האקדמית בית ברל > English > About Us > News > Newsletter > February Newsletter > Beit Berl Trains Informal Education Professionals in Arab Communities in One-of-a-Kind Program

Beit Berl Trains Informal Education Professionals in Arab Communities in One-of-a-Kind Program

Beit Berl’s first cohort of students in the new Training Informal Education Professionals in the Arab Communities program is keen to foster change in Arab society.

This year, 18 Arab female and male students began studies in a new two-year academic program specifically designed to meet the needs of informal education professionals in Israeli Arab communities. The program – developed in partnership with The Diane P. & Guilford Glazer Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles and The Social Venture Fund for Jewish-Arab Equality and Shared Society (SVF) – was established in response to a shortage of Arab professionals in this field following the 2015 passing of Resolution 922, a groundbreaking five-year economic development plan for Israel’s Arab sector which invests hundreds of millions of shekels to strengthen informal education frameworks in Arab Israeli municipalities.

Many of the students in the program already work in informal education in their communities, without the necessary training to initiate, develop and implement informal education programs and systems. This first cohort of students will graduate with the knowledge and know-how to develop and execute communal programs, serve as agents of change in Arab municipalities, and enhance the lives of hundreds of youth in their communities.

Informal Education is one of Beit Berl’s oldest tracks in the Faculty of Education, today consisting of 180 students studying toward a B.Ed. degree and teaching certificate in informal education. Since its establishment in 1975, the track trains students to work as educators and society builders, enabling students to manage, operate, and lead educational frameworks outside the formal school system. The training helps them hone and practice skills they will need in order to initiate, advance, manage, and implement educational work in this spirit. Over the last decades, Beit Berl has worked closely with the alumni of Israeli youth movements Dror Israel, Machanot Olim, Hashomer HaTsair and its Arab counterpart, Ajyal, together creating a unique informal education training program based on a methodology of dialogue education. This program has trained hundreds of community educators, who live in intentional communities, building a robust informal education framework in Israel's periphery.

Beit Berl is one of the few institutions in the country where it is possible to study and be certified in Informal Education, a requirement for most jobs in this field. Beit Berl also offers a special degree program for the staff of boarding schools.