Kershner Interview Report 1

Country Case Study: Israel

Interview Report

Sarah Kershner
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Introduction

In 2010, “The National Israeli Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Program called for the adaption of the educational system to the 21st century” and it has since

been implemented (Magen-Nagar & Maskit, 2016). Although this has been implemented for 7

years, there are still some barriers that prevent Israeli schools from implementing technology to

their full potential. The purpose of this report is to hear from and analyze the experience of two

Israeli teachers. They were each interviewed and asked multiple questions to get a sense of their

teaching practices including technology and the support they are receiving to better their

teaching.

Interview Questions

1. Please describe your current position including what responsibilities you have in relation

to schools in Israel.

Rationale: This question was necessary to get basic background information

about the interviewees. It was important to find out what grade and school they

are teaching at.

2. How is technology integrated into Israeli schools?

Rationale: This question was used to get a sense of technology use in the country.

Based on the research in my synthesis report, Israel has been pushing for

technology integration in schools but I wanted to see how much that has been

happening from first hand accounts.

3. What resources and professional development is provided to teachers in Israel for

technology use? Do you feel teachers are prepared enough to teach students using

technology?
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Rationale: One barrier that Israel faces when integrating technology into the

classroom is professional development. This question was aimed to get a sense of

how professional development has grown or not grown in the country.

4. Who makes policy decisions in regards to technology integration to schools?

Rationale: This question was aimed to find out how individual schools in Israel

create policies involving technology integration.

5. In 2010, the ICT called for the adaption of the educational system in Israel to match the

21st century. In 2017, do you think there has been many changes and upgrades to

technology integration?

Rationale: This question was aimed to find out how the teachers felt the

technology integration has changed since the original call in 2010.

6. Would you say there is a digital divide in Israeli schools? If so, are there efforts to

decrease the digital divide?

Rationale: This question relates back to the discussions in class on digital divides

around the globe. The aim was to get a sense of how teachers in the country feel

about the resources they are provided compared to other areas in the country.

7. Are there any challenges that Israel faces in regards to technology integration?

Rationale: Besides getting a sense if there was a digital divide and not having

enough professional development, I wanted to know if teachers felt like there

were other issues making integrating technology a challenge.

8. Are there any successes from technology integration in Israel that other countries like the

United States could learn from?

Rationale: This question was aimed to find out any positive strategies the teachers
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in Israel felt should be shared. This would give a first-hand experience of

strategies they feel works for their students in Israel.

Strategy Used

In order to get the information I needed and find interviewees willing to support me on

this assignment, I used a few different strategies. The first thing I did was contact a family

member that has lived in Israel for most of her life. Her children went to school and so I thought

she would be able to put me in contact with a few teachers that she knew. I reached out to her on

Facebook, and although she told me she would help, she never got back to me even though I

contacted her a few times after. I also messaged a few other people on Facebook that I know live

in Israel, but I did not receive any responses.

I then went to Linkedin and messaged a few people that listed Israeli Schools as their

jobs. Some Linkedin members I had to add as a connection first before I could message them

directly. Unfortunately, no one responded to me through Linkedin. I was also emailing individual

schools directly. I did receive a few emails back saying they were willing to help. When I sent

them the interview questions, the correspondents told me they didn’t think they were the best

people to give me the information I needed. One person told me she would find me someone

who would better suit my needs but I never heard back after reaching out a few more times.

The last thing I did was reach out to one more person on Facebook. Her father used to

work at a Synagogue in Maryland and they have quite a few relatives who live in Israel. As soon

as I contacted her she told me she was going to talk to a few people and get back to me. She put

me in contact with someone from Israel that knew two teachers. We were all connected in the

same email thread. They told me they thought the second person on the thread would be a great

person to interview because he has worked at a Jewish Day School in the United States as well as
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Israel so he would give great insight on the technology comparison. After not hearing back for

awhile, I received an email saying that it would be a good idea to either “dumb down” the

questions or translate them into Hebrew. After doing that, one person responded to me but the

teacher who worked both in Israel and the United States did not. He then contacted me directly

saying he didn’t think he would be best to answer the questions. Thankfully he put me directly in

contact with someone else and gave me his phone number.

Persons Interviewed

The first interview I conducted was done through email. I had to translate my questions

into Hebrew through Google Translate. The first person to respond was Arih Bnimin. He is

currently a teacher at the Ministry of Education. He works in the city of Ra’anana which is in the

center of the Israel. He stays with the same group of kids for two years. He switched to first

grade this year. He will teach second grade next year with the same group of students.

Previously, he worked in third and fourth grade, again staying with the same group for two years.

The second person I interviewed was Avichai Halevy. He works at the Yeshivat Nakhal

Yitzchak School in Nehalim, Israel. He currently teaches ninth grade Science, which includes

Physics, Chemistry and Biology. He also teaches eleventh and 12th grade Biology classes. The

school goes from seventh to twelfth grade and he is the Head of Science of the entire school. He

seemed very enthusiastic about including technology in his teaching and to discuss technology in

the classroom with me.

Findings/Changes in Initial Perceptions

Google Translate was an amazing tool that allowed me to communicate with my first

interviewee, Arih Bnimin. However, I found that it made it a little bit more difficult to get the

information I needed. In my initial research preparing the Synthesis Report, it seemed like
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technology was being pushed greatly in Israeli Schools and there were examples of this

happening in multiple articles. One thing I did not come across was discussion of the digital

divide. From my interview with Mr. Bnimin, it seems that there is no doubt a digital divide

happening in Israeli Schools. In Mr. Bnimin’s school he stated that “Technology occupies a

place in [my] school, but not a central place” (Bnimin, 2017). In his school, technology is not

being used as a tool for learning but just as a supplemental resource like media clips or

presentation opportunities. Another thing I thought was really interesting was his answer to my

question about any challenges that Israel faces in regards to technology integration. In the area

that he teaches, he believes that it “is still not getting the integration due to budgetary constraints

or because of outdated perceptions” (Bnimin, 2017). Seeing budgetary constraints as a cause for

the digital divide was not surprising to me. However, seeing outdated perceptions was something

that I never thought about before. Many of the schools there are structured around religion.

Sticking with a traditional classroom with books and chalkboards is what some of the areas may

want depending on their opinions and what they grew up with. Areas up and coming with new

technologies would be more prone to change and think about teaching differently.

My second interviewee Avichai Halevy was proficient in English and was able to give

me more information. We used WhatsApp to chat and discuss my interview questions. When I

asked him about technology use in the classroom, he asked me to define technology so that he

was clear. He told me that “there’s very little use with google classroom”, using youtube videos

is a popular trend “but most teachers do not know how to integrate videos so they just run it”

(Halevy, 2017). He seemed very up to date on different technology tools that are out there. One

thing I thought was very interesting that he said was that there are so many educational tools that

are available but “most of them are in English and that usually stops most of the teachers and
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students” from using them (Halevy, 2017). His point reiterates the lack of professional

development for teachers in Israel, which is what I found completing my Synthesis Report.

Although these tools are in English, from my experience I have seen many tools that can be

translated into different languages. The problem is that the teachers or students don’t know how

to do that. Much of the professional development is up to the teachers. He mentioned that there is

usually “some training, but mostly you [would] have to find the time and resources yourself”

(Halevy, 2017).

Conclusion

After interviewing both teachers, it seems that Israel has a lot of work to do to continue to

integrate technology in their classrooms. They seem to have made some progress since 2010

because teachers like Halevy are trying to incorporate class websites and other technology tools

in the classroom. It seems however, that these teachers are expected to learn things on their own

otherwise they will just be forgotten about and not utilized. Another thing that these interviews

shed light on was the digital divide and the causes of the digital divide. Many areas of Israel are

provided with tablets and smartphones to use in the classroom while other areas don’t even have

a projector in their room. Budgetary concerns are one reason for the digital divide as well as

communities not willing to change. Some school districts in Israel are in areas that are very old

fashioned which makes the schools have to stick to the old ways of teaching. One important

factor that seems similar in Israel, the United States, and other countries in the world is that

professional development is so important. Teachers are not going to use technology with their

students if they do not feel confident using it. Professional development needs to be seen as a key

component in integrating technology successfully.

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Attachments

Screenshot of my email with Mr. Bnimin can be found above. (Google Translated Email)

Below is a Google Document that contains Screenshots from my WhatsApp Interview.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vWSo-

mjPSWn_O1PHj_SFBDpi_5OnjyXntkBYSoaa0MQ/edit?usp=sharing

References

Noga Magen-, N., & Ditza, M. (2016). Integrating ICT in Teacher Colleges - A Change Process.

Journal Of Information Technology Education: Research, Vol 15, Pp 211-232 (2016),

211.