User:Sheerly hecht/sandbox

Education Cities is an urban-educational approach developed by Yaacov Hecht for achieving the goal of generating a system-wide social change in cities. This approach perceives the municipal education system as a principle instrument for citywide development, and the city as a central instrument for the education system's development. Education Cities has been implemented in various cities in Israel since 1999. In the early years of the Education Cities' implementation, Hecht, who was then-general manger of the Institute for Democratic Education at the Kibbutzim Collage, has executed his work in this field within this framework. In 2010, Hecht transferred his activity to Education Cities – The Art of Collaborations, a social business organization.

Theoretical background of the model's development
The Education Cities model was formulated and first implemented by Yaakov Hecht, architect of the Democratic Education approach, which is implemented today in Israel and worldwide. Democratic Education is focused on the creation of conditions and instruments necessary for every person's (pupil) development through his individual areas of strength. Accordingly, in the beginning of the new millennium, the realization that the traditional school, an enclosed area defined by a physical and ideological fence, is restricted in its ability to construct an individual learning program which is focused on individual strength areas, has developed. From this point on, Hecht has begun examining the possibility that the city, as a whole, will transform into one big school. According to this approach, a reciprocal relationship will evolve: on the one hand, the city's pupils would be able to study in every city institution, facility, commercial and industrial site, or cultural and sport center; and on the other hand, the pupils would facilitate, through their various talents, a citywide growth in directions identified by the city's leadership as municipal growth engines. The development of the Education City idea was influenced by existing approaches: Educating city and Learning city, which both concentrate on lifelong learning and long-day learning. Contrary to the Education City approach, the latters do not focus on embracing a relationship between the formal education system and the municipal system. Additional influences on the formulation of the Education City idea are Ivan Illich's Deschooling idea, and from the field of Urban Planning – Christopher Alexander's approach, an urban Planner, who speaks, too, of connecting the education system to the city. Since 1999, Hecht has made a shift from the theoretical phase, with the help of Mayors, into field trials. Following a decade of multiple field trails, Hecht has made the transition from managing the Institute for Democratic Education into the establishment of the Education Cities Organization with Ram Shmueli.

Differential Implementation
The work of Education Cities is unique and different in every city. During the first design year, the aim is building a citywide program by the citizens of the city, and not by a source external to it. This is accomplished within the framework of "circles" of the city's heads of teachers, heads of the municipal education division, teachers, parents, business owners, and any other municipal component. Hence "The art of collaborations" – as oppose to a mass-produced, prefabricated, predictable product, in each city, a different tapestry is woven, giving birth to a unique creation. One successful example of such program is the organization's work in Tiberias. Students of the Branco Weiss School, youth at risk, operate and maintain Tiberias' Extreme Park, while other teenagers serve as the city's "cultural ambassadors": They learn about Tiberias' history and assume the role of tour guides on tourists' buses that arrive to the city. Furthermore, some children who follow the Rambam's (Hebrew acronym for Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) philosophy, grow herbs in public gardens, and even on traffic islands, process it, and later sell it, and so forth. This program's implementation enables children and teens to learn and develop beyond their school's walls, to find their individual areas of strength and to experience success.

Timeline – Israeli experience
1999 – First trial in Mizpe Ramon – "A learning community"

2001 – Design phase of "Be'er Sheva – Education City" – did not reach implementation phase

2004 – Bat Yam – The Bat Yam Personal Education Model – The first implementation of an Education City in Israel wins great success.

2006 – First step in the design phase of "Jerusalem Education City" – did not reach implementation phase

2006 – Nes Ziona – Education City.

2006 – Acre - A two years attempt to form an Education City.

2008 – Tiberias – A groundbreaking work that realizes, for the first time, a successful bridge between the municipal development and the education system's development, in a program titled "Past Cultivating Future."

2009 – Hadera – Yachol (Hebrew word for "can" and acronym for green, blue & white) – Hadera in Green Blue and White 2011 – Emek HaMaianot (Hebrew for Springs' Valley) – Education Valley – Design and implementation of an Education City Program in a municipal authority.

Awards
In January 2011, after implementation of the Education Cities Program in Hadera, the city was awarded, for the first time in its history, the Israeli national education award. In June 2011, Tiberias was awarded the regional-municipal education award from the Israeli Ministry of Education's Northern District; this honor was awarded for the implementation of the "Past Cultivating Future" municipal way of life, in accordance with the Education Cities' approach. For his work as founder and general manager of Education Cities, Yaakov Hecht was included in Ha'ir (Hebrew for the city) newspaper's list of "50 most influential people in Education in the year 2011."