Oranim Academic College of Education | Institutes

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.

Contacts:

Dr. Janina Kahn-Horwitz

Dr. Janina Kahn-Horwitz, Associate Director of Academic Collaborations, is a senior lecturer at Oranim. She teaches in the undergraduate English Language and Literature Department, as well as the graduate M.Ed. Language Learning program and the M.Teach program. Her research interests include individual differences in language learning and foreign language literacy development, and she publishes and presents at international scholarly conferences in these fields. She is an adjunct investigator at the Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities at the University of Haifa. She has a B.A. from the University of the Witwatersrand, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Haifa.

Prof. Shosh Leshem

Prof Shosh Leshem is Head of Teacher Education for Secondary Schools at Oranim Academic School of Education. Her background is in teaching English as a foreign language, multiculturalism, mentoring, doctoral education and supervision. She is currently teaching in the Advanced Studies Faculty in the Languages Department and Children at Risk.

She was a visiting lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK for six years where she conducted workshops for doctoral candidates, supervisors and examiners. She is the co- author of the book Stepping Stones to Achieving Your Doctorate, Open University Press, 2008.

Her research and publications focus on issues in teacher education, doctoral education and TEFL. She is currently a visiting professor and research associate at Stellenbosch University and Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), South Africa.

Dr. Orly Sela

Dr. Orly Sela started her career as an English teacher in K-12 schools, moving into teacher education, which she now specializes in. She has a PhD in Education from Haifa University, and teaches various courses at the undergraduate and graduate level at Oranim Academic College of Education in northern Israel. She serves as the college’s Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, as well as Head of the Applied Final Papers Unit in the School of Graduate Studies. Her research interests include qualitative research, action research, cooperative learning and the use of technology in education.

Jackie Levy-Atias

Jackie Levi-Atias, Associate Director of Programming, directs the School to School initiatives and promotes new partnerships. She has been at Oranim since 2005. Prior to that, Jackie coordinated the educational curriculum for the Mandel Leadership Institute’s Jerusalem Fellows program. She also served as the Ma’aleh Program Coordinator at Hebrew University’s Magid Institute for Continuing Education. Jackie has a B.A. and an M.P.A. from the University of Haifa.

Rachael Gelfman Schultz

Rachael Gelfman Schultz, Communications Coordinator, has worked as a Jewish educator and writer in the United States and Israel. She has written student books and teachers’ guides, published by Behrman House, for congregational schools and Jewish day schools. She also writes donor communications for the JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee). Rachael has a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.A. in Jewish Thought from Hebrew University.