A Cooperative Venture of the Israel Democracy Institute and the Ministry of Education
Living Democracy is a community educational program that endorses democratic studies for students of all sectors and socioeconomic backgrounds from kindergarten through the last year of high school .
The goals of this project are:
- To create multi-year programs for democratic studies and civic education led by local authorities.
- To provide headmasters, teachers, and students with democratic knowledge.
- To generate a common civic language for students, grades K-12.
- To promote civic and communal involvement.
Three towns have been selected for this program:
- Hurfeish, a Druze Village, in northern Israel. (Population: 5,000)
- Netivot, a developing town, in the south of Israel. (Mostly Orthodox, with a smaller segment of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. Population: 23,000)
- Tamra, an Arab town in northern Israel. (Population 27,000)
The implementation of long-term programs in junior and senior high schools in these three locations began in September 2006. Teachers and headmasters from the selected schools participated in IDI-led in-service training seminars prior to the school year.
In each town, steering committees are being established, both within the local authority and within the school. A project coordinator from the IDI has been involved in the project from the outset in the areas of planning, implementation, and evaluation. Similarly, in each school, a project coordinator has been appointed and given the responsibility for leading the project, including aspects of planning, recruiting resources, guiding teachers and pupils, documentation, and evaluation.
In both junior and senior high schools, pupils will study civics and democracy, drawing on materials prepared by both the Ministry of Education and by the Israel Democracy Institute. Throughout the course of studies, emphasis will be placed on developing hands-on civics projects which will benefit the school, the community, the region and even the state. The school steering committees will determine which class projects will receive funding.
A research team from the IDI has been appointed in order to evaluate and monitor the program.
Read more about the Educational Program