There is no mention of quality education in Israeli education. However, his view on talents, the qualities that talents should possess, the role of education and schools, the ways to cultivate talents and the implementation of these ideas in the educational process all embody the idea of quality education and guide the educational development and talent training in Israel.
First, the educational concept.
1. Talent view
Talents include innovative talents engaged in research and development in high-tech fields, engineering talents who solve practical problems in specific projects, skilled talents who run manufacturing industries, and practical talents who are competent for daily work in various industries. This diversified talent view reflects the diversity of social demand for talents, requires different standards for evaluating talents, eliminates discrimination in talent values, and provides a social atmosphere for all citizens to adapt to their own conditions and give full play to their talents. This concept puts forward the requirements for education to cultivate talents of different categories and levels.
2. The concept of talent quality
No matter what kind of talents, they must have a variety of qualities, including both professional qualities related to occupation and personality qualities related to society. Professional quality includes knowledge, knowledge level and professional skills. And high-tech talents must have the ability of independent innovation. Personality quality includes patriotism, honesty, civic awareness, social responsibility awareness and many other aspects. Among them, patriotism and civic awareness are extremely important for Israel's survival.
3. Concepts of education and school functions
The fundamental purpose of education, especially school education, is to cultivate talents. Based on the above-mentioned "talent view" and "talent quality view", Israeli schools emphasize the cultivation of talent quality in all aspects of school activities in order to realize their functions. Schools pay attention to the teaching process of imparting knowledge, and at the same time pay special attention to the cultivation of students' personality quality, which is particularly prominent in basic education and secondary education.
4. The concept of talent training mode
The cultivation of personality quality in Israel's basic education stage and the cultivation of high-end talents (doctors) in higher education stage reflect the concept of its talent training model, which is the most successful typical embodiment of its education in talent training.
(1) Basic education: Students should develop independently in an all-round way.
In basic education, the idea of society, schools and parents is to let students develop independently in an all-round way. Every student's potential and specialty are different, so let it be. They respect students' wishes and create conditions for their independent development. They believe that the teaching process should focus on stimulating students' potential, and there are various ways to become talents, and students' academic performance is not necessarily related to success. Therefore, academic performance is not the "only" or "key" factor to evaluate students' performance in school. Students trained by the concepts of "stimulating potential" and "independent development" in basic education have independent thinking ability and development potential, which lays a solid foundation for higher education to cultivate high-tech talents with independent innovation. Otherwise, "cultivating innovative talents" will become a castle in the air in the university.
(2) High-end talents: the world's top applied and compound talents.
In the cultivation of high-end talents (doctors) in Israeli higher education, its advanced educational concept is embodied in the following aspects.
The first is the international perspective. Israel is a small country, lacking in resources and energy, surrounded by Arab countries, and its own development space is extremely limited. In order to build a country, survive and develop, we must face overseas and establish close ties with western developed countries. Israel's scientific research projects and research funds are mostly combined with foreign countries. Most of Israel's academic papers are published in international academic journals, and more than 1/3 of them are completed in cooperation with foreign scholars. The research topic of doctoral students can be at the forefront of this discipline, and the final research results and dissertations are in the leading position in the world. The appraisal of research results or the review of papers are conducted by professors with international standards or international academic institutions. The results or papers evaluated in this way are bound to be of higher level, greater influence and authority. Israeli universities often invite famous foreign professors and scholars to exchange ideas. Although students are in universities in Israel, the information they know is global. Some universities also have special funds for doctoral students to apply for going abroad to attend international academic conferences. Influenced by this international academic environment, the professional information of doctoral students has been greatly enriched, which has a positive impact on their perspective of observing problems and their thinking of solving problems.
The second is to pay attention to training engineering talents. The purpose of training engineering doctors in Israel is to train applied engineering talents with the ability of technological innovation and solving practical engineering problems. Tutors guide students with this concept, so they highlight practicality in the training process. Tutors create conditions for them to visit factories, companies, associations and other engineering institutions to understand the existing technical equipment, technical level and technical problems that need to be studied and solved. The requirements of engineering for doctoral thesis are different from those of science, and more emphasis is placed on technological innovation. There is no rigid requirement for publishing articles in theoretical journals.
The third is to pay attention to research ability. The research ability that reflects a doctor's quality includes both depth and breadth. The achievement of innovation often lies in the breakthrough of research depth. Israel is not greedy for perfection in cultivating doctoral research ability, but focuses on the overall situation and starts from small things, requiring them to do in-depth, accurate and thorough research on a seemingly small research topic. This kind of research is usually not involved by predecessors, and there is no experience to learn from. It requires creative thinking and rigorous and meticulous methods, and its difficulty is beyond the existing ability of students. Through this practical exercise, students' scientific research ability has been effectively cultivated and improved. The final research results are gratifying, and the research ability trained is more valuable.
Fourth, academic evaluation pays attention to quality. Research ability, scientific research achievements and thesis level are important signs of doctoral quality. In Israel, the academic evaluation of doctoral students is not based on who said what, but on his achievements. Israel pays more attention to the value of "quality" in the evaluation of "quantity" and "quality", and the evaluation standard is academic orientation. This concept of "attaching importance to quality" makes people have a long-term vision, calm down, concentrate on research, not be disturbed by academic impetuousness, not be supplemented by papers, overcome quick success and instant benefit, accumulate and condense research results, and finally complete major projects and produce weighty and influential results.
The fifth is academic democracy. Developing students' potential is one of the core concepts of quality education. The development of potential needs certain conditions and space, and doctoral students in Israel fully enjoy this space. Tutors encourage students' innovative ideas and are willing to discuss with them. Academic democracy is conducive to breaking the outdated concept of seniority and making outstanding talents stand out. Scientific quality and democratic quality are the essential personality connotation of high-end talents, and they are also the result of good training environment and subtle influence.
Sixth, humanistic spirit. The quality of doctoral talents includes not only excellent professional knowledge and scientific research ability, but also humanistic spirit. In addition to the democratic consciousness mentioned above, team spirit, cooperative spirit and academic ethics are also indispensable. The cultivation of these spirits is not due to preaching in Israel. Doctoral students have lived in this academic environment for many years, and the spirit of cooperation has gradually integrated into their way of thinking. The tutor has a rigorous research attitude, respects other people's research results and abides by academic ethics. Students are exposed to it, and academic moral consciousness is formed imperceptibly.
Second, the open university and adult education
In order to meet the needs of social development and talents, Israel has established "open universities" and various adult education and vocational education institutions, with the aim of cultivating practical talents.
1. Open University
Open University is an important part of adult education. It is a formal higher education institution authorized to award bachelor's degrees (some majors can be awarded master's degrees), and mainly undertakes the degree education of on-the-job personnel. 95% of the enrolled students are on-the-job, including students who have completed high school and are completing their bachelor's degrees, or students who are in military service, and some people who have graduated from high school with bachelor's degrees or even doctoral degrees. The purpose of their admission is to receive further education and update their knowledge. Unlike regular universities, entering an open university does not require passing quality tests and entrance examinations, nor does it require formal academic credentials. Students' learning depends entirely on their own motivation and self-discipline The criterion for judging students is that they can be awarded corresponding degrees after completing the prescribed homework and passing the exam. The school sets up courses according to the special needs of students, and the teaching materials are compiled and published by the school. The construction of teaching materials is a highlight of the open university. The school invites famous scholars, academic consultants, writers, editors, graphic artists and textbook review consultants from colleges and universities all over the country to participate in the design and compilation of textbooks. At present, the university offers more than 400 courses including life science, natural science, mathematics, computer science, social science, management, Jewish studies, education, humanities and music art. The teaching of open university is mainly based on distance education, which is carried out through wired or wireless TV networks and multimedia means. The university has set up 80 counseling centers across the country, with 650 teachers providing on-site counseling and answering questions. The tutor is also responsible for telephone consultation, answering students' questions and revising email assignments. The Open University has two semesters each year, in addition to offering a nine-week intensive summer course.
2. Adult education
Adult education in Israel revolves around the ever-changing world and social functions. In the adult education plan formulated by the Israeli Ministry of Education, it is clearly proposed to formulate an adult education plan to meet the social and educational needs of the adult population with different structures. In order to meet the continuing education needs of adults from all walks of life, the Israeli Ministry of Education and various public and private educational institutions offer a variety of adult education courses. Adult education in Israel has developed from the primary stage to the rapidly developing network society. This form of education not only maintains the most basic literacy education, but also deepens according to the social development and the improvement of adult learning level, and even develops to the higher education recognized by the country today. All levels and types of adult education networks are perfect. Adult education in Israel is basically sponsored by the Adult Education Department of the Ministry of Education and the Labor and Social Development Bureau of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, and social forces are also welcome to participate in adult education. The curriculum is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education.
Third, patriotism, civic awareness and sense of social responsibility
Among the personality qualities of Israeli citizens, it is particularly important to establish patriotism, civic awareness and social responsibility. In this regard, education has an unshirkable responsibility. Primary schools carry out education on the history of the Jewish diaspora for thousands of years, traditional Jewish religion, culture and Zionism. Middle schools carry out national defense education to prepare for military service. Israel has a universal compulsory military service system. Male citizens aged 65,438+08 ~ 29 and female citizens aged 65,438+08 ~ 24 are required to perform military service unless there are special circumstances. After graduating from high school, students must serve 2-4 years of military service, and then enter the university for further study or employment. Between secondary education and higher education, students should first fulfill their civic obligation to defend the country, and carry out military tasks to maintain social order at home and fight against hostile countries abroad. This is unique in the education systems of all countries. Through the tempering of military career, students' patriotism, civic awareness and sense of social responsibility are firmly established and integrated into their personality. Israeli college students have strong discipline and self-control, which reflects their overall personality quality from one side.
Israel has "Holocaust Remembrance Day" (commemorating Jews who died before and after World War II) and "Memorial Day" (commemorating soldiers who died for the founding and defense of Israel). At that time, the whole country sounded an alarm, and all citizens stopped all activities and stood in silence. Memorial day and mourning activities have become social classes for schools to carry out patriotic education.
Looking at the positive role of Israeli education in all aspects of talent training, thinking about the basic role of China education in talent training is not only to refer to the above specific practices, but more importantly to learn from its talent view of decision-making education development and talent training education view.
Authors: Education Office of China Embassy in Israel.
(Editor Wang Yongkang)