Oranim Academic College of Education is the largest and leading academic college of education in the North of Israel. Oranim’s Faculty of Education and Teaching includes departments of Early Childhood Education, Elementary School Education, Secondary School Education, and Special Education. The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities includes Bible Studies, Literature and Creative Expression, English Language and Literature, Hebrew Language, Inter-Disciplinary Studies, Jewish Philosophy, Mid-East Studies, Art, Arabic Language, Democracy and Citizenship, Geography and Environmental Studies, Informal-Social Studies, Media and Communications, and Sociology. The Faculty of Science includes departments of Biology and Math, Physics and Computer Science. It prepares thousands of students studying for the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Sciences, Bachelor and Master of Education, and Teaching Certifications and advanced professional training programs. Six hundred academic faculty and two hundred administrative faculty are employed by Oranim. Sources of funding include the Israeli Ministry of Education, annual study fees paid by students, funding from various special projects and donations.

Oranim Academic College of Education is the largest and leading academic college of education in the North of Israel, catering to thousands of students enrolled in bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in education, teaching certification courses, and advanced career training. Oranim graduates are in demand in all education related fields – in public and private schools, diverse educational institutions, local and regional governments, national ministries, youth movements, non-profits, the arts, sciences, and industry. Tens of thousands of Oranim graduates are involved in education in Israel.
Oranim boasts a broad range of programs and degrees, as well as a diverse student body, with Jewish and Arab students of all ages, ethnicities, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds. Six hundred academic faculty and two hundred administrative faculty are employed by Oranim. Sources of funding include the Israeli Ministry of Education, annual study fees paid by students, funding from various special projects and donations.

Mission and objectives

Oranim’s mission is to shape Israeli society and to improve the quality of life in Israel by training educators who are leaders in their communities. Oranim offers educators guidance and support through a wide network of connections between communities. Oranim strives to serve as a national and international center of knowledge, inquiry, and discussion, developing innovative educational ideas and methods. Through dialogue and ongoing mutual relationships, Oranim seeks to strengthen the sense of connection between the diverse cultures in Israel, and between Israel and the Jewish world, as well as the world at large.

  1. Programs and Training: Developing innovative teaching and learning methods and skills; updating teacher training programs based on synergy between different disciplines; encouraging creativity, curiosity, and independent learning; integrating knowledge, emotions, and values.
  2. Faculty: Nourishing a high quality faculty, both professionally and academically, outstanding in its intellectual excellence, critical thinking, and social action; encouraging a research culture; and promoting international relationships and collaborations.
  3. Students: Setting high standards and clear criteria for advancing and evaluating students; creating a supportive community and welcoming environment.
  4. Advanced Studies: Promoting continuing education for teachers throughout their careers; developing programs for international students in education, Israeli society, and Jewish culture.

Main projects/ activities (upload additional info e.g., merkaz shaveh)

  1. Educating and training teachers through the faculties of education and teaching, the faculty of social sciences and humanities, the faculty of science and the faculty of graduate studies (including M.Ed. in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, M.Ed. in Educational Counseling, M.Ed. in Language Teaching (English, Arabic and Hebrew as additional languages), M.Ed. in Youth at Risk, M.Ed. in Science Education, M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and Master Teach.
  2. Oranim’s Unit for Continuing and Professional Studies for educators in the field seeking professional-career advancement or a career change.
  3. International School aims to forge international collaborations and academic programs and exchanges. Through dialogue and ongoing mutual relationships with institutions and individuals abroad, Oranim seeks not only to strengthen the sense of connection between the diverse cultures in Israel, but also to enhance the links between Israel and the rest of the world. As part of this vision, Oranim’s newly established international school has initiated programs for students from abroad, as well as exchanges of students and faculty in the field of education.
  4. Department for Jewish Peoplehood (as part of the International School) collaborates with educators, schools, families, and communities within Israel and around the world as they seek new ways to build Jewish engagement and create meaningful Israel experiences. The staff develops initiatives to deepen Jewish identity, promote connections with Israel and Israelis, and network globally in the Jewish world.
  5. Shaveh Center for Equity and Inclusion in Education is committed to advancing strategies for equity in education and to promote diversity and equal rights as guiding principles for every educator, whether working in the classroom, the school, the community, or educational policy (see attached document).
  6. Hamidrasha – Educational Center for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Israel –develops pedagogical approaches and activities that facilitate the transmission of Jewish culture in a way that inspires and informs Israeli Jew’s in their quest for meaning, dialogue and voluntarism. It was established to help secular Israelis address issues of personal and collective Jewish identity and to create a more pluralistic cultural and spiritual landscape in Israel.
  7. Shdemot Department for Community Building – The Department designs and runs programs to build social capital and promote social cohesion through community networks across Israel, in all sectors of Israeli society. The staff specializes in onsite community development work, educating, consulting, and working with Jewish and Arab citizen groups, schools, and educators, local governments and non-profits.
  8. Michael Program trains young Ethiopian-Israelis enrolled at Oranim College to be educational leaders. The students are mainstreamed into academic and campus life. They receive supplemental academic support, tutoring and guidance. They also plan and hold activities and events that help educate Oranim students and the campus about Ethiopian culture and heritage.
  9. Program for Honor Students is for selected motivated students who have high grades and potential, and see themselves as future leaders in education. As a group, they receive additional training, special classes and leadership activities, are given tuition stipends and complete their degree in three years instead of four.
  10. ‘Putting the North in the Center’ is a program run by the Shdemot Department for Community Building and supervises Oranim students to work in small teams and mentor Youth at Risk in area schools once a week. Each team takes on a class of 15 teenagers, creating a school within a school environment and motivating youths to be serious about themselves and their studies.
  11. Three Art Galleries (Oranim Gallery of Israeli Art, The New Media Gallery and the Gallery for Museum Education) are operated by the Oranim Art Institute and are open to the general public. Respected artists from Israel and abroad are invited to run art workshops with students and faculty.
  12. The Botanical Garden has 10 acres of land with 900 different types of plants, non-cultivated and indigenous ones – including the seven species mentioned in the Bible, and an arboretum. Located at the crossroads of the Jezreel and Zevulun Valleys, the garden is a major stop-off point for birds. A Bird Center tracks their migration.
  13. The School for Gifted Children and Honor Students is attended once a week by 350 gifted children (ranked in the top 1.5% of their age group). A parallel program with Honor students in 4th – 11th grades has 300 children who rank in the next 3.5%. The School allows talented children an opportunity to be intellectually stimulated, network and develop socially with their peers.

Contacts:

Dr. Micky Motola

Dr. Micky Motola

Dean of the students at Oranim Academic College of
Education.
He studied clinical psychology in Paris and worked as a clinical psychologist
for many years in the north of Israel. Later in his career he established a
vocational guidance center in Nahariya and a parental guidance and
preparation for childbirth center in Karmiel. His doctoral research was about
future representation of young people attending secondary schools in France
and Finland. He studied in the Mandel School for Educational Leadership for
two years. Since 1999 he has taught Psychology and Education studies at
Oranim Academic College of Education. He was a faculty member at the
Mandel School for Educational Leadership since 1999 to 2004. He is
interested in promoting creative teaching methods, contemplative pedagogy
and multicultural skills. He tries to bring together his experience as a clinical
psychologist and as an educator to develop a new type of teacher:
'therapeutic educator'.
Nowadays his researches deal with empathy in education, contemplative
pedagogy and racism in education.

Dr. Michal (Muky) Gross

Dr. Michal (Muky) Gross

lecturer at Oranim Academic College of Education. She teaches basic and
advanced nature courses in different academic programs at Oranim. She is the head of the Green
Council and the director of the Botanical Garden in Oranim. Before that she was a staff member at
Shdemot Center for Community Leadership in Oranim, where she established the Community
Sustainability department. During that time she was among the founders of several environmental
NGO’s in Israel.
Her academic specialty is in the areas of Environment, Ecology, Botany, Botanical garden, Environmental
education, Outdoor learning, Long- term monitoring and Sustainability.
 Muky holds a B.Sc in Biology and M. Sc in Human Genetics. She received her Ph.D. from Dept. of Plant
science at Tel-Aviv University, and her Thesis is: " Chemotypic differentiation among populations of
Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. vulgare, Apiaceae”.
Outside of Oranim, she is a member of the Israeli Council for National Parks, Nature Reserves and
National Sites and a member of the Israeli Society for Sustainable Economics, and is a consultant for the
‘The Green Movement’ which is a social-environmental movement and political party in Israel.

Dr. Nirit Koren Lawrence

Dr. Nirit Koren Lawrence

a Community building consultant at Shdemot – Center for Community Leadership at Oranim
Academic College of Education. She specializes in connecting communities to tourism, heritage and
environment.
Nirit holds a Ph.D. in tourism (Management of archaeological sites); an M.A. in archaeology (specializing
in Heritage and Public Archaeology); a B.A. in archaeology and at Eretz Israel Studies; and a teaching
certificate; She has worked for many years at the Israel Antiquities Authority (in education and
community), teaching, training, coordinating projects and managing. In recent years she has been
working at Shdemot, as a community-building specialist. She also lectures at Oranim College on
educational leadership in communities.

Dr. Osnat Nisanov

Dr. Osnat Nisanov

the Head of the Department of Social Community Education at Oranim
Academic College of Education. She was also the Coordinator of the Leadership in Education
Program at Oranom College. Before that she worked for many years in the Ministry of
Education, as an education counselor in high-school and as an instructor of Counselors.
Osnat did her B.A. in Special Education, and continued to Educational Counseling for her M.A.
Her Ph.D is in the field of Youth at Risk, and her Doctoral Dissertation is about Program for the
Reduction of Violence among at-Risk Youth.
Osnat’s areas of interest and specialization are: Risky Behaviors during Adolescence; Risky
Behaviors during Adolescence – Prevention Programs; Sexuality, Relationships, and Family;
Violence among at-Risk Youth; Leaders for Social and Education Activity; Social Community
Education -Formal and Informal Education.

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