Education Minister Yoav Kisch told Davar that he opposes transferring responsibility for operating the education system to local authorities, but supports giving them greater pedagogical flexibility. In a conversation at the start of the school year, Kisch said that the next wage agreement with the Teachers’ Union “must be different” and should enable smaller classes and a transition to a five-day school week, while maintaining teachers’ current workload.
Regarding the transfer of responsibility to local authorities, Kisch said: “It’s a complex question. There are things that can be transferred from the Education Ministry to local authorities. But to tell you that management can now be transferred to them entirely? They aren’t equipped for it; it would be a dramatic change. I don’t see the significant value that it is supposed to bring.”
Kisch was asked about recruiting teachers on personal contracts (“teaching fellows”), which involve higher salaries for a limited period—a measure the ministry began implementing last year. He said he does not see this as a central tool for addressing the teacher shortage. “At the moment, personal contracts are limited to up to 6% of teachers (under the wage agreement with the Teachers’ Union). I see this primarily as a tool for filling gaps where there are shortages,” he said. “I don’t think it’s the main tool. Where it’s appropriate, certainly, but ultimately it’s the principal’s decision, if they manage to recruit a teacher, if they prefer a teaching fellow.”
According to the education minister, the next wage agreement with the Teachers’ Union must include sweeping changes, including reducing the number of students in each class—a measure recommended by a committee he appointed at the beginning of his tenure, but whose implementation was postponed.
“The agreement will be reached in December, and I hope that this issue will be on my desk, because that would mean that after the elections I will be the education minister,” he said. “It will be a particularly major challenge. A wage agreement that must be different. It is essential to include smaller classes, a transition to a five-day school week—there are many things that need to be included, including even reducing the number of hours in educational frameworks, while still maintaining a significant number of instructional hours. Because once you reduce class sizes, it’s as if you need more teachers, but you can offset that by moving to a five-day week, reducing instructional hours, and through other measures.”
Kisch says he opposes the demand to formally establish the status of “state Hebrew education” (education in the non-religious and non-Haredi Jewish sector) and establish a separate council to oversee it, similar to the state religious education system.
“In my view, this is an initiative by opposition figures,” he said. “There is no need for this. We are taking care of state education. There are budgets for state education, we are strengthening it, and this is the responsibility of the education minister, not anyone else.”