In the midst of the teachers' union's struggle to raise salaries last summer, then-Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman tweeted about a meeting he held with a group of teachers to hear their opinions.
"I met with five brave, talented and enterprising teachers to hear what is really important to teachers in Israel," Lieberman wrote on his Twitter account. "The answer I received is simple and unequivocal – we need to invest in reducing the wage gap and in quality teachers."
The tweet was accompanied by a photo of Lieberman with the five teachers, without mentioning their names, and without mentioning their affiliation to Teachers Leading Change – a relatively new organization with strong ties to Forum Kohelet.
A right-wing and proudly conservative libertarian think tank, Forum Kohelet financially boosted Teachers Leading Change upon its foundation as part of the Forum’s Coalition for Autonomy in Education. This coalition held a conference for the first time in Kfar Saba earlier this month with the participation of Knesset members and members of the public, signaling a desire to expand the organization's activities.
The “change” to which the group is aiming is very much in line with the positions presented by Forum Kohelet in recent years, which aim to erode what the Forum calls “outdated” collective agreements of the national Teacher’s Union. These include prioritizing high wages for young teachers at the expense of the seniority component in the wages of veteran teachers, bonuses for excellence from school administrators, and the employment of teachers on high-paying personal contracts. As a means for this, or as a goal, Teachers Leading Change has worked to weaken the power of the union.
At the time when their meeting took place, the interests of Lieberman and Teachers Leading Change overlapped. The conflict between the Teachers' Union and the Ministry of Finance was at its peak. While Yaffa Ben-David, secretary general of the Teachers' Union, demanded a significant salary increase for all teachers and another significant increase in starting salaries, Lieberman spoke of small to zero increases for the veteran teachers, bonuses for excellence and employment via personal contracts. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance claimed that due to the transitional government, they could not commit to high salary increases. The union responded with a series of protest strikes.
And so, in the midst of the confrontation with the representative organization of hundreds of thousands of teachers, the Minister of Finance chose instead to meet with a group of teachers “from the field” who supported precisely the agenda he wanted to promote. An excellent service for those interested in weakening the power of teachers' and workers' unions in general, such as Forum Kohelet.
An independent non-profit organization, supported by Forum Kohelet
Teachers Leading Change was indeed established by teachers from the field and is registered as an independent association. But a Davar investigation revealed that upon its establishment, it received support from researchers and employees of Forum Kohelet.
The main founder of Teachers Leading Change is Tal Luria, a former high school teacher and writer of a blog called A Teacher's Diary. On January 6 2022, Luria uploaded posts to social networks in which he invited teachers to join his joint initiative, along with Ricky Maman and Avraham Tomer, researchers at Forum Kohelet and members of the Coalition for Autonomy in Education.
The posts invited teachers to the webinar of the Coalition for Autonomy in Education, and presented the initiative’s vision: the "flexible" employment model (a code name for personal contracts), autonomy (a broad concept, the meaning of which can range from an important reinforcement for teachers and administrators, to privatization which could increase disparities), and a salary increase for new teachers rather than veterans. On the same day, Maman and Tomer upload identical posts.
The post reads that Luria, Maman and Tomer are "these days formulating an action plan for the upcoming salary agreements." The plan itself was not published, but it is possible that what happened in the months that followed was influenced by the same plan formulated by Luria and the Kohelet researchers.
Photo caption: Posts uploaded by the founder of Teachers Leading Change, Tal Luria, and Ricky Maman, a researcher at Forum Kohelet (screenshot)
Throughout the first half of 2022, the Forum worked to advance their goals in the new salary agreement. On March 7, 2022, they submitted a position paper to the Knesset’s Special Committee on Addictions, Drugs and the Challenges Facing Young Israelis promoting the same demands, calling for a "flexible" employment model and a salary increase for young teachers (and by implication, not for the entire system). The battle continued on Facebook; the Coalition’s page posted three posts opposing "seniority-based pay," after a full year of no activity on the page.
In the midst of this campaign, Teachers Leading Change was established and introduced themselves on Facebook: "Teachers Leading Change is a group of teachers which was organized independently and voluntarily in order to influence the two upcoming salary agreements between the government and the teachers' unions. It is not a representative workers' union, but a voluntary organization of teachers from the field who want to extend influence, and feel that the teachers' unions do not represent the teachers' needs in an optimal way…”
In the days that followed, members of or associated with Forum Kohelet shared the post and promoted the organization enthusiastically.
Teachers Leading Change emphasize that they are an independent association. The 2022 financial report of the association shows zero income and zero expenses. But the year 2023 has listed expenses. The organization said that it “receives donations from masses of teachers, parents, private individuals and a host of bodies and organizations which believe in our goals and our path," without detailing who those organizations are that contributed to the forum and whether the Forum Kohelet is among them. The Forum did not respond to an inquiry on the subject.
However, its parent body, the Coalition for Autonomy is Education, is openly led and funded by Forum Kohelet.
Photo caption: From the Coalition for Autonomy in Education website. "Led by the Forum Kohelet". (screenshot)
"Yaffa Ben-David and Ran Erez will be replaced when they go to prison or die"
It is well known that Teachers Leading Change advocates personal contracts for teachers, autonomy for managers in firing teachers and their compensation, and the right to choose for parents.
But the founders of the organization also present another, very Forum Kohelet-esque goal: weakening the teachers' unions. The founder Tal Luria and another activist in the organization, Danny Buller, said in an interview on former Kohelet member Idan Eretz’ podcast that the goal of the organization is to “break the monopoly that the teachers' unions have on hiring teachers in Israel.”
Luria and the members of the organization used many platforms to express their criticism of the teachers' unions. For example, in the TikTok video uploaded by Luria from February 8, 2023, he is seen in a lecture at the Our Interest conference, where he claims that the teachers' unions rely on "huge budgets of tens and hundreds of millions of shekels" and that they have only one goal, which is not to promote teachers' rights, but to preserve "hundreds of jobs for their people."
Luria added that "when other teachers (like me) come and want to change the policy and criticize the teachers' unions, they are threatened and blackmailed through illegitimate means such as biased elections, so they give up."
In another video from Luria's TikTok account from January 6, 2023, called "Teachers in Israel are controlled by a dictatorship,” there is a caption in the background about union leaders Yaffa Ben David and Ran Erez, according to which they will only be replaced when they "go to prison or die.”
Photo caption: Luria’s TikTok video shows a caption in the background about Yaffa Ben David and Ran Erez, according to which they will only be replaced when they "go to prison or die" (screenshot)
In June 2022, Buller, published a harsh opinion column against Yaffa Ben David and the teachers' unions entitled: "Teachers' unions are part of the problem, not the solution," in which he explained the principles of Teachers Leading Change.
"In her eyes," Buller said of Yaffa Ben-David, "the role of the education system is to provide good jobs to those who have survived long enough. She just fails to mention the stipends that the teachers' unions receive every year, fails to mention what the salaries of the Histadrut officials are, fails to mention that the teachers don't know what she does with their money, because she leads an organization which strongly opposes transparency."
The tone of Teachers Leading Change escalates very quickly during a strike. For example, last February, when the teachers' union announced a strike, the organization wrote:
"If there was no justification for the teachers' union’s strike before the local government center announced the strike, there is no justification after it either… Let's recall that Ran Erez's demands do not promote employment flexibility, harm education and the teacher's status, are ineffective, do not deal with the quality of teachers and above all – are accepted without transparency."
In another tweet, the organization encourages the community of teachers to break a strike and not be in solidarity with their colleagues and the union: "Teachers, remember: no one can force you to strike, not even your representative union."
That same month, they wrote about the negotiations between the teachers' organization and the Ministry of Finance: "Why is Ran Erez asking for a percentage increase for all teachers, and not a uniform increase for all teachers? […] Maybe because that's what he’s used to. Maybe because it photographs better. Maybe because there are those who have personal interests in the union…”
Support in the Knesset
Teachers Leading Change didn't just meet with the Minister of Finance. The organization also received support from Knesset members. Last summer, its members were invited to a conference on "flexibility in the employment of teachers" with the participation of Knesset members Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party), Moshe Tur-Paz (Yesh Atid), Sharren Haskal (at the time of the conference she was a member of the New Hope party), Abir Kara (Yamina) and Yuval Stienitz (Likud).
The members of the organization also met with the Deputy Director of Education at the Local Government Center, Michal Menks, and with the head of the Department of Labor Agreements and Wages at the Center, Hagit Magen.
Teachers Leading Change wrote about the meeting: "We explained to them our guiding principles for benefiting the education system while improving the status and conditions of teachers… We talked about reducing barriers in the system and increasing flexibility in schools – for teachers and administrators."
On Thursday, July 20th, the organization held a “launch conference” in Kfar Saba with the participation of Knesset member Sharren Haskel, the chairman of National Parents' Leadership Mirom Schiff, and former minister of education Shai Piron. MK Moshe Tur-Paz was supposed to participate in the conference but was unable to attend for technical reasons.
Teachers Leading Change wrote: "Our launch conference deals with our goals and how the education system can be improved for a better future for the State of Israel." The organization did not specify the sources of funding for the conference.
Photo caption: Invitation to the launch conference of ‘Teachers Leading Change’, July 2023 (screenshot)
What motivated the members of the Knesset and public figures to attend the conference of Teachers Leading Change? MK Haskel said that criticism of teachers' unions which comes from within the education system itself is important.
"The unionized organizations have proven time and time again that they do not work for the benefit of the teachers, but for the benefit of those close to them,” she said. “In this period when there is a dramatic erosion in the status of the teacher and the salary of the teachers is insufficient, when quality students who are interested in an educational mission are afraid to enter the teaching profession, it is time for the workers' unions to take stock and draw conclusions.
"The teaching staff dedicate their lives to education and do sacred work every day, and in order to reward them properly, a deep change in the system is necessary,” she continued. “Criticism of the teachers' unions, especially from those coming from within the education system, is legitimate and is a catalyst for change for the better of the system, for the benefit of the teachers and for the benefit of the children of Israel who deserve a higher quality education system. Strengthening the status of the teacher, proper compensation, and setting goals for recruiting quality teachers, is the future of the Israeli education system."
MK Tur-Paz said that he tries to attend every conference on education to which he is invited, but he also once submitted a bill to weaken the representative teachers' unions.
A member from his office told Davar on behalf of Tur-Paz: "The MK promotes significant processes in the context of the integration of ultra-Orthodox citizens into society, the promotion of youth villages and welfare boarding schools, the improvement of special education, etc… MK Tur-Paz encourages the involvement of parents and teachers in decisions concerning the education system in Israel these days, and is a partner in an initiative that strengthens the status of classroom educators."
Former Minister of Education Shai Piron told Davar that he was not familiar with the organization when he was invited to the conference.
“I don't identify with some of the issues and some I oppose. To this end, I will come to voice a professional and educational position,” he explained. “As a general rule – except for extreme cases – my personal position is to avoid boycotts as much as possible as long as I am allowed to say what I want as I want. At this time, the wisdom is to manage conversations and discourse – we have to argue, disagree, try to convince.”
“I receive hundreds of inquiries from educational organizations and try to respond to all of them,” he went on. “I suggest that we all not enter into a policy of boycotts, a policy of demonization.”
Teachers Leading Change did not respond to an inquiry regarding the relationship between them and Forum Kohelet, or whether they received financial support, advice or other assistance from them.
This article was translated from Hebrew by Hannah Blount.
