I imagine it’s rather rare for a group of UK-based Jewish school leaders to be plucked from their day-jobs and sent to the USA on a fact-finding mission. I was lucky enough to be one of PaJeS’ Lira Winston Fellows who earlier this year was ferried across the pond to participate in the Prizmah conference for Jewish educators.
The conference was quite something to behold, a slick operation at a vast Boston hotel, packed with 1,500 Jewish educators and professionals. All there to learn, teach and network in order to keep us at the cutting edge of how to educate our children.
After the conference, we had the privilege of visiting two of Boston’s Jewish schools. The American Jewish school system is privately sponsored, fee-based and provides for a significant minority of Jewish children educated in the USA.
We were warmly welcomed at the Rambam School: a co-ed, Orthodox, all-through school with a distinctly “American High School” look and about 430 students. Then, after lunch, we went to see Gan Academy: a pluralist, co-ed, 11-18 school – newer than Rambam and with a beautiful building whose architecture seeks to embody the school’s ethos: lots of open spaces, light and high ceilings – all in a very swish, modern building with cutting-edge facilities and 350 students.
Both schools were inspiring: community schools, with Judaism exuding from every brick. The lessons we visited, ranging from Nach to Orwell’s 1984 and Native American history, were in-depth and the content was delivered at a high level.
Both schools had an extensive infrastructure of leadership, teaching and support staff, which far eclipses staff to student ratios in the uk. Classes were small and lessons mostly resembled Hollywood portrayals: students at single desks, with the teacher at the front.
The teachers were fonts of knowledge, experienced, experts in their fields, delivering their subjects with passion and verve. Leaders clearly had time to lead and it seemed that many of the day-to-day responsibilities that occupy school leaders in the UK don’t fall within the US school leaders’ wheelhouses. While most Western schools, including those we saw in the US, care for students’ ever-growing social and emotional needs, it appeared as if our American colleagues had more time and space to focus on the core business of teaching and learning. This may be because of cultural differences, resources or, indeed, myriad other factors that shape their educational landscape.
However, the superior investment in teachers, facilities and studies, both Jewish and secular, was there for us all to see. It promoted professional expertise, depth of learning, work-life balance and an emphasis on being excellent educators.
That said, I must ask forgiveness from any Americans reading this: I think we’re better.
Yes, the pool of teachers from which the American Jewish schools can draw is far greater than ours. Yes, there are more resources per-student than we are able to offer. Yes, there is more time for teachers to teach. But, based on the lessons we saw, what goes on in our classrooms is better.
Our expertise lies in our educators’ ability to deliver varied, well-planned, creative lessons. Usually rooted in the latest pedagogical developments and providing a range of education experiences within the classroom to challenge our students and ensure academic rigour and quality learning.
The clearest lessons we Lira Winston Fellows took from our trip is the importance of nurturing not only our students, but our teachers too. Teachers are the jewels in our schools' crowns and we must do all that we can to polish them to a high shine. The deep commitment that our community has to supporting its schools is centuries old. We must underpin our commitment to learning with a similar level of investment in our teachers to that our American neighbours make.
Benjamin de Jong is assistant headteacher at JCoSS
