Family & Education
New scheme to promote fresh classroom ideas
LSJS's Project Innovate will encourage Jewish studies teachers to develop new projects
May 28, 2023 12:05
LSJS's Project Innovate will encourage Jewish studies teachers to develop new projects
May 28, 2023 12:05The London School of Jewish Studies is launching a new scheme to encourage Jewish studies teachers to try out new ideas in the classroom.
Project Innovate will bring together teachers from different schools to learn from each other and to develop bespoke projects for their own schools.
The programme will run over four terms and have separate cohorts for secondary and primary teachers
Rabbi Danny Baigel, director of Jewish career pathways at LSJS, said it will “go from research and reflection to implementation in the classroom”.
The final stage will enable teachers to evaluate how their project went down with students.
The scheme is run in partnership with Jerusalem-based publishers Koren and will include webinars with some of its authors. Participants will receive a stipend of £650 and free books from Koren.
The first group will look at how children can build a meaningful relationship with God. Future topics might cover how to teach Jewish tests, gender and inclusion or parental engagement.
The programme would offer a forum for collaboration and foster a culture of innovation that would help teachers meet contemporary challenges, he said.
“I want it to be known that Jewish teachers aren’t doing the same things they have always done,” he said. “The student in today’s classrooms isn’t necessarily the same student as was there five to 10 years ago.”