The first two weeks of June were especially intensive for the fellows of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. After a long period of individual and group study, research, discovery, discussion, and observation, the fellows presented their individual projects to their peers, their tutors, experts in the field, and the faculty of the Mandel Leadership Institute.

The atmosphere during the presentations was open and attentive. Fellows, faculty members, and guests participated in brainstorming sessions during which they proposed clarifications and asked questions, giving the fellows a wealth of new ideas on how to improve and refine their projects.
 
“The crystallization of an individual project is a protracted process of developing a vision by delving into strategic, theoretical, and scholarly foundations while linking theory and practice,” says Adi Nir-Sagi, Director of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. “Presenting the projects is an opportunity for an intellectual, in-depth, varied, and tolerant discussion of issues that have engaged the fellows during the program. To a large extent, the individual project signifies a crucial point in the learning process at the School for Educational Leadership. It is not the end of the road, but a milestone on the path of study and practice that will continue after the program concludes,” she adds.

The fellows presented projects on a broad range of topics. According to Dr. Eli Gottlieb, director of the Mandel Leadership Institute, “The projects largely reflected the personal journies the fellows experienced during the program; they expressed the unique voice of each fellow. The wide variety [of projects], the spectrum of worldviews within the group, and the fruitful and challenging discussions that arose from them were something unique.” Projects were presented on the topics of youth at risk, school dropouts, educational technology, legal issues in education, the challenges of State-Religious education, youth leadership, adult education for Russian-speakers, music education in Haredi society, communications studies in the Arab sector, and more.

Dr. David Nimrod Simart, who was the last to present his project, summed up the presentations, saying: “The fellows presented 16 projects that embody a huge amount of human capital. I hope that we fellows will make our mark in the field and have an impact.”

Projects
• An engineering/technological/scientific campus in Modi’in on the way to fruition—Batya Orbuch Shochen
• “Be-Sod ha-Hibbur” open study center for Russian-speakers—Gregory Kottler
• A program to prevent students from dropping out of university before earning a bachelor’s degree—Sharona Kedoshai Bar-Nes
• On the way to higher-quality and more egalitarian public education: a proposed model for local-government collaboration with the third sector and the private sector—David Nimrod Simart
• A proposal for reorganizing State-Religious education in Israel: the difference between public education and private, ideological education—Ram Zehavi
• Training teachers in the spirit of dialogue: organizational dialogue and classroom dialogue—Aryeh Kizel
• The establishment of community music centers in the haredi community—Naomi Perl
• Youth leadership: a re-examination—Ruth Knoller Levy
• The establishment of an inclusive municipal education system to prevent antisocial behavior—Nir Haziza
• Law, language, and social justice—Adv. Ran Lustigman
• An outline for the establishment of an institute where the teaching is relevant to pupils, staff members, and the information age—Yael Biber Aviad
• Young people who have lived away from home—the transition to independent living in adolescence: development of a conceptual approach and services—Adv. Tamar Peled Amir
• Furthering achievement: early identification of potential school dropouts and suitable solutions—Dr. Saleh Darawshe
• Discourse in education, discourse on education, educational discourse, educating discourse: a personal glossary—Uri Ellis
• Adapting high school curriculum units in communications to Arab youth in Israel—Katef Murad Salameh
• Program for the development of leadership skills among parents—Doron Margalit