ORT Israel

ORT Israel

ORT Israel logo
Formation 1949
Type Organizations based in Israel
Legal status active
Purpose education
Region served
Israel
Website ort.org.il
Pictures of ORT schools
ORT Arad
ORT high school in Umm Batin, a Bedouin town in the Negev
ORT Singalovski, Tel Aviv

ORT Israel is a non-government organization devoted to education in Israel.

"ORT Israel" (ORT is an acronym of the Russian Общество Ремесленного Труда – "Association for Vocational Crafts") is the largest educational network in Israel for science and technology education and has been operating in Israel since 1949 as a public benefit company. The network operates some 210 educational institutions including engineering colleges, middle and high schools, and one elementary school, in over 55 local authorities. Some 100,000 students attend ORT Israel schools and colleges and, to date, the network has trained some 600,000 graduates. Its students come from all sectors and populations in Israeli society.

History

Ort Israel began functioning in 1948, when Aharon Syngalowsky, then Chairperson of World ORT, came to Israel. With the dramatic increase in immigration from North Africa, Europe and the Middle East, new challenges in absorption and rehabilitation emerged. Thousands of new immigrants needed to be integrated into the new society, and to this end, jobs and vocational training were needed. Many senior figures in the country supported this idea, such as Zalman Shazar, then the Minister of Education, and later to become President, Zalman Aran, later to become Minister of Education, and Mordechai Bentov, the Minister of Housing. The management of ORT rented an abandoned building in Jaffa and another one on Nevi'im Street in Jerusalem.

The first ORT school in Israel opened in Jaffa in 1949[1]. Its beginnings were modest, with only short courses for discharged soldiers, in order to make it easier for them to integrate into the country's economy. The school was headed by engineer Zvi Rivlin. Thus ORT Israel was founded, and this was also the beginning of technology education in the State of Israel. The school operated for seven consecutive years in extremely crowded conditions. The first courses were in welding, carpentry, pajama sewing, weaving, radio, electricity, and typewriter repair. Hundreds of discharged soldiers and new immigrants passed through the school, studying mainly in evening classes. At the end of the 1950s, ORT managed to open the new and very modern school in Tel Aviv, Yad Eliyahu named ORT Syngalowsky.

Expansion of the organization

During the 1960s, needs grew, and ORT decided to expand; the number of students in the network doubled, and doubled once again in the 1970s. The education authorities in Israel decided to make technological and vocational education a priority and demanded that more and more schools be built for this purpose. Between 1960 and 1975, 60 additional schools were added to the network to make a total of 80 schools. Thus, a decade later, the number of ORT students exceeded 70,000. The new schools were opened not just in the big cities, but also on kibbutzim, in development towns, in yeshivas and even among the Arab population.

In 2003, Israel was World ORT's largest sphere of operation, with 90,000 students enrolled in 159 schools, colleges and institutions.[1] In 2006, ORT Israel broke away from World ORT,[2] which continues to work in Israel as Kadima Mada-Educating for Life. ORT Israel now raises funds in the United States through Friends of Israel Sci-Tech Schools.[3]Kadima Mada is investing NIS16 million to upgrade technology studies in 72 Jewish and non-Jewish schools in Israel.[4]

ORT Israel in the 21st century

Since the turn of the century, the network has expanded considerably, making its main goal the cultivation of schools that define themselves as providing high-level science and technology education. ORT institutions are spread around the entire country. One in ten post-elementary students attends an ORT Israel school. Every year, some 100,000 students, youth and adults study in its institutions. The network serves the entire population of the country, both geographically and demographically, working in all the various communities: state schools (Jewish and Arab: Muslim, Christian and Druze), state-religious schools (yeshivot and ulpanot). The ORT Israel network has over 600,000 graduates, and employs 8,500 teaching and administrative staff.

Today ORT is the largest non-state network of schools in Israel. Until a few years ago ORT primarily operated trade and vocational schools. Now the focus is on the advancement of science and technology education.

ORT Israel institutions

ORT's institutions in Israel

The network runs over 200 institutions, including dozens of 6-year comprehensive (middle and high) schools, industrial schools, and colleges for technicians and practical engineers, which train some 30% of the technology HR for Israel's economy.

Research and Development

The Ort Israel Research and Development Center was established by Manya and Israel Moshinsky of Mexico [3] in 1972.

The Center was designed to train ORT teachers the work methods and applications of the new technologies used in ORT's more advanced study tracks. The Pedagogical Center became a model for other information centers worldwide. The Center was built on the campus of the ORT Syngalowsky High School, not by chance.

A very imaginative staff was selected to conduct research and be creative while teaching and learning materials were developed and tried out on the brightest in its adjacent labs. The R&D Center supervised the writing of technology textbooks for students and teachers and these have reached ORT students everywhere and been translated into several languages.

Over the years, the ORT R&D Center has continued to set standards of innovation and progress with changing technology. There has been a shift from textbooks to the development of online tools and information systems for teaching and learning. The R&D Center currently has some 100 employees and is responsible for innovative pedagogical development for the entire network. The Center also exports curricula abroad to both Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Every year the ORT R&D Center takes part in international science and technology projects and has an outstanding reputation as a center of quality and innovation.

Presidents, Board Chairs and Director Generals

ORT Israel Presidents Board of Directors Chairs ORT Israel Director Generals
Name Term Name Term Name Term
Dr. Yehuda Biehm1949-1954Yosef S. Shapira1960-1964 Dr. Yosef Amitai1949-1950
Yosef S. Shapira 1954-1964Elazar L. Epstein 1964-1967Yaakov Oleisky 1950-1966
Elazar L. Epstein 1964-1968Chaim Herzog 1968-1974Yosef Harmatz 1967-1979
Chaim Herzog 1968-1984Uziel Steinberg 1975-1992Michael Avitzur 1979-1983
Uziel Steinberg 1984-2007Zalman Shalev 1993-2000Israel Goralnik 1983-1996
Prof. Bracha Reger 2007-presentDr. Uzi Tsuk 2001-presentAdv. Haim Ben Ami1996-2002
Zvi Peleg 2002- present

Pedagogy

ORT Israel offers 40 different study tracks in science and technology, social sciences and humanities. About 60% of ORT Israel students study in science and technology tracks.

In recent years, ORT has been the first to launch study tracks in Israel in: biomedical engineering, mechatronics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, environmental studies and electro-optics. Parallel to their high school studies, some 1,200 outstanding ORT students also study n the ORT Academy program for a Bachelor's degree at the Technion and Israel's other research universities.

Online learning

Teaching methods at ORT include a combination of online learning systems that use the internet and social media platforms. Among these, ORT Israel has developed a Learning Management System based on an open source platform, launched a virtual school and supports over 100 websites specially developed and run by the network's teachers and students.

Projects

In 1996, World ORT launched the "Science through Technology" in Israeli junior high schools (grade 7–9). In the "Young Investigators" program for seventh graders, the students build LEGO models to explore scientific phenomenon. In "Galileo, Newton and Me" for eighth graders, LEGO is used to study systems. In the "Design your own world" program, ninth graders attempt to solve real-life problems using LEGO bricks and programming. [5]

In 2008, Kadima Mada embarked on a project to build high-tech classrooms, equipping 60 rooms on six campuses with Interactive Whiteboards, wireless Internet and other technological aids.[6]

ORT Israel in the different sectors

With a view to the social and economic resilience of the country, the ORT Israel network believes it is important to deliver high-quality science and technology education to all sectors of society.

ORT Bir Hadaj (بئر هداج) High School in the Bedouin dispersion

Each year the network continues to expand and take on more schools from these sectors.

Collaborations

IDF

Various ORT institutions maintain close ties with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The two main ones are ORT Israel Aerospace Industries, which offers an UAV study track and ORT Air Force at Tel Nof, which trains students for technical support roles in the Air Force. Additional schools incorporate a cadet program.

This collaboration with the IDF has led thousands of ORT graduates to serve in engineering, technology and ICT positions in the IDF. Among other things, ORT graduates work on developing sophisticated combat systems for aircraft and helicopters and on programming information systems for the Air Force, the Navy and the Intelligence Corps. After their military service, many ORT Israel graduates take jobs in Israel's defense industries, including Elbit Systems, Rafael, and the IAI.

Industry and the Corporate Sector

Together with representatives from the Manufacturer's Association, ORT Israel heads a project of having schools adopted by industrial concerns to allow students to get to know them and gain hands-on experience while still studying. In addition, ORT Israel operates a track in conjunction with the Ministry of Economics and Industry to place practical engineers in the country's key corporations.

International projects

ORT represents Israel in collaborations with bodies and educational institutions around the world. For example, ORT Israel led the Consortium on nanotechnology as part of the FP-7 programs of the European Union. It is part of the e-learning initiative in which 10 Mediterranean Basin countries are participating, and has been involved in a project of the British Council to make connections between academia and industry.

ORT Israel exports science and technology curricula to high schools and middle schools in Europe and the USA. In the USA, ORT Israel functions under the name of the Israel Sci-Tech Schools Network.

Core values

ORT Israel's endeavors are based on three "banners", with the intention that the combination of the three will strengthen the moral, economic and security resilience of the country.

Values

A "grandma online" lesson at ORT Shlomi Middle School, where students instruct senior citizens how to use the computer as part of the ORTOV activities

This "banner" is based on emphasizing giving to others, to the community and to society, cultivating Jewish identity and empowering heritages to strengthen the social-moral fabric of the country. To this end, ORT operates the ORTOV program, which functions in dozens of the network's schools. The ORTOV movement has many projects in all sectors in areas such as advocacy, medicine, mentoring, helping the elderly, sustainability and more.

Strengthening the periphery and community involvement

By investing in social projects and scholarship for students, ORT strives to strengthen Israel's social and geographical periphery. ORT's projects of community involvement include collaboration with the JOINT, Yad HaNadiv, the IACC and other organizations. The network cultivates the bond with national and cultural heritage among students and staff in all sectors through heritage studies and emphasizing the importance of shared life between Jews and Arabs with projects such as Bridges to Peace and the Shared Life Hangout for Peace together with the Peres Peace Center and Google Israel.

Science & Technology Education

ORT students presenting their own programmed robots at Science Week.
ORT Israel Director General, Zvi Peleg, and the students presenting technology developments at Science Week.

The aim of this "banner" is that the younger generation will establish Israel as a country that excels in science and technology for the sake of its economic strength. Some 65% of all ORT Israel students study in technological study tracks. Graduates of ORT Israel colleges constitute 40% of all the practical engineers in the country. Across its various institutions, ORT Israel teaches some 30 study tracks in science and technology, including some very new ones such as cyber, electro-optics, biomedicine and nanotechnology. The highlight of ORT Israel's achievement in science and technology is the Science & Engineering track, an advanced level matriculation cluster. Studies in this track are based on novel approaches to teaching by way of analogies and the development of a study project among a community of learners. The science and engineering topics studied in this track integrate disciplines and innovations such as bio-medical engineering, artificial intelligence and space colonies. The track was developed at the ORT R&D Center.

Fostering excellence in teaching and learning

This third "banner" seeks to achieve high-quality education for all strata of society, enabling students to fully realize their potential and benefit from socioeconomic advancement.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The ORT Emergency Campaign for Israel". World ORT. 21 July 2006. Archived from the original on 21 July 2006. Retrieved 21 July 2006.
  2. ↑ Jacob Berkman (26 April 2007). "Israel vs. the World? ORT Battle Continues". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Jewish Exponent. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  3. ↑ "ORTs settle name dispute". JTA. 9 July 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  4. ↑ Making Israel Smarter
  5. ↑ Science through Technology in Junior High Schools in Israel
  6. ↑ Science through Technology in Junior High Schools in Israel
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