The future of Jewish schooling in the United Kingdom:
Key strategic issues facing central Orthodox and Progressive Jewish day schools

Provision of places 
Human resources
Financing
Communication and information
Conclusions

While the number of Jewish day schools has grown rapidly over the past half-century, and pupils in these schools are largely achieving good academic examination results compared to the national average, a series of key strategic issues still face the overall Jewish schooling sector. On the basis of in-depth interviews with both education providers (headteachers, teachers, educational psychologists and community professionals) and education users (parents), five strategic themes concerning Jewish day schools were identified: provision of places, human resources, financing, communication and information and special educational needs. This chapter discusses the first four of these themes, which are presented in a hierarchy of importance, beginning with the most pressing communal issues of provision of Jewish day school places and whether there are enough teachers, and going on to less immediate--though still important--concerns, such as how schools communicate with parents. The chapter concentrates on these themes for 'mainstream' Progressive and central Orthodox schools. Chapter 7 discusses strategic issues facing the strictly Orthodox sector, which has particular needs and concerns, and Chapter 8 analyses provision for children with special educational needs. SEN is an area that has largely been neglected in Jewish education reports, and requires particular communal attention.

Provision of places

Questions as to whether there is over- or under-provision of Jewish day school places continue to worry Jewish community leaders concerned with education. In some regional communities, concerns are expressed over whether the local Jewish day school can attract enough Jewish pupils to remain viable in the long term, whereas in parts of London there are questions as to whether or not the supply of places can keep up with demand.

At primary level, there is a range of Jewish day schools in the north London area, from Progressive schools, such as Clore Shalom and Akiva, to central Orthodox schools, such as Rosh Pinah and Hertsmere, to the strictly Orthodox schools like Pardes House and Yesodey Hatorah. Nonetheless, a number of north London interviewees spoke of the difficulties of obtaining places at their preferred primary school:

At [our primary school] people were fighting to get in. (Governor of a London Jewish primary school) 

It can be a nightmare trying to get your child into the school of your choice ... I think a lot of people don't get into the schools they want. (Parent of a child attending a London Jewish primary school)

We tried to find him a Jewish school in Hendon, but waiting lists were horrendous. (Parent of a child attending a London Jewish primary school)

For schools that are in demand--and thus have to 'ration' places--selection criteria are based on factors such as halachic status, prior attendance at a Jewish nursery, the presence of a sibling in the school and geographical proximity (see Chapter 3). Parents who want to send their children to Jewish schools but do not meet the necessary criteria--because, for example, they may have just moved to the area--face the prospect of settling for their second- or third-choice school. In theory at least, they may even have to send their child to a non-Jewish school.

At secondary level there are no specifically Progressive schools and a small number of central Orthodox Jewish schools, although institutions tend to be larger than at primary level. Here again, fears of an over-subscription of places were often expressed. The Jewish Free School (JFS) is preparing to move site and expand, and Progressive and Orthodox steering groups have been established to discuss the possibility of constructing one, or possibly even two, new secondary schools north of Greater London in Hertfordshire. Nonetheless, several educational professionals argued that the number of places at Jewish day schools was probably 'about right' for current and short- to medium-term future needs.(1) 

Several providers and users at both primary and secondary levels noted how most schools have particular constituencies and niche markets. This is partly determined by geographical location--both institutional selection criteria and the willingness of parents and children to travel beyond certain distances--but also by the type of ethos associated with the school. Accordingly, while there is a qualitative perception among certain education providers of a need to expand the provision of Jewish day school places in north London, some providers noted a more stable demand in terms of their particular religious constituency. At one school, for example, the headteacher argued that the 'market' for potential pupils was relatively steady, but noted pressures to move to the 'right' in terms of religious observance; while this might potentially attract more pupils it would also entail, from this headteacher's perspective, an unacceptable alteration to the ethos of the school. Broad statements about an over- or under-provision of places are thus unhelpful, even in London. Moreover, calculating the extent of levels of over- or under-provision is difficult because parents can register an interest with several different schools, thus making the demand for places seem greater than is the case.

Outside London, the provision of Jewish day school places is patchier although, as in London, schools are often associated with particular religious, cultural or Zionist traditions. In Leeds, there are on-going discussions about a possible Jewish state secondary school, but in many regional communities questions are being raised--if sometimes only tacitly-- about the long-term future of formal Jewish schooling. In Cardiff, there has been no Jewish school at any level since the kindergarten closed down in 1999 and in communities such as Liverpool and Glasgow Jewish schools take in non-Jewish pupils in order to make up the register. Here, questions of demography are all-important.

Interviewer: Where do you think your school will be in ten years' time?

Primary headteacher: I'd rather not look, I'm not looking at the moment! I would hope it would still be here, I would hope it would still have a Jewish ethos, but realistically I don't know . . . I'd like to think it could continue in the way that it is doing at the moment, but I doubt it.

In these communities, schools face major problems in trying to market themselves to their potential client-base so that they can fill their places with as many Jews as possible. Such schools have to 'sell' themselves to local Jews, who may be deciding between the local Jewish state school and often an independent, non-Jewish school. Such schools thus seek to 'recruit' Jewish pupils.

For those not part of central Orthodox Jewry, the situation in declining regional Jewish communities is arguably even more difficult. For example, in Glasgow, parents in the small Progressive community can choose to send their children to the local Jewish primary school, although the education there is based on a central Orthodox ethos, which may not always sit comfortably with those from different affiliations. While minority Jewish populations in London have the option--places permitting--of educating their children in primary day schools specifically designed to meet their needs, in regional communities this is usually not possible.

Human resources

General subject teachers

Alongside the issue of whether or not there is adequate provision of Jewish day school places, the issue most often raised by interviewees--by providers and users--related to human resources. In general, most interviewees were extremely positive about the staff working in the Jewish schools, with parents mostly happy or very happy with the education their children were receiving (although some found it difficult to rate the quality of their school because of a lack of comparative information). It is important to stress these positive attitudes, while also identifying areas of concern, such as those relating to the difficulty of recruiting general teaching staff. 

Most of the Jewish schools are pretty full. We need more Jewish schools, but an even bigger problem is the staffing of Jewish schools when we get them. We advertised for two posts recently and were shocked by how few applicants there were . . . There are very few people around that are good Jewish teachers that we don't already know about, and that's very sad. (London primary school headteacher)

Teacher recruitment problems are common to many UK schools--especially in London and the South-east--the Jewish sector of which is obviously just one part. Data from the Department for Education and Employment show that Jewish schools have slightly smaller class sizes and lower pupil to teacher ratios than the national average (see Chapter 4). Hence, Jewish schools are arguably in a better position than most. Note that, according to the DfEE, there are 288 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-sector Jewish primary schools and 270 FTE teachers in state-sector Jewish secondary schools. Nevertheless, a key sectoral problem for Jewish day schools is attracting Jewish members of staff. This is particularly so because many schools who are happy to employ non-Jewish staff will only accept Jewish teachers if they are religiously observant because of a desire that they be role models. This limits the potential pool of available staff.

For those primary schools in which teachers teach across the range of subjects, including Jewish studies, recruiting and retaining Jewish staff is particularly problematic. Having Jewish teachers here is almost a prerequisite. Even in schools in which the Judaic and general curricula are separated, a shortage of Jewish teachers is still a matter of concern. If the raison d'être of Jewish day schools is to immerse children in a Jewish way of life, having few Jewish teachers in general curriculum classes gives pupils a different message:

If [Jewish general curriculum staff] can be recruited, they have a major impact on the religious ethos and vibrancy of a Jewish secondary school. They demonstrate to pupils that religious commitment is not incompatible with secular excellence and that it is not determined by one's formal position in the school. In this sense a religious teacher of physics may provide as salient a role model as, say, the Head of Jewish Studies. Conversely, if sincere Jewish observance is restricted to the Jewish studies department, the message being sent to the pupils is clear.(2)

Judaic subject teachers

Alongside general recruitment difficulties, Jewish day schools also suffer particular human resource problems in relation to the recruitment and retention of suitably qualified Jewish studies and modern Hebrew (Ivrit) staff. With the relatively low numbers of students taking Hebrew GCEs shown in Chapter 5, this is a future as well as a present-day problem. 

Getting general staff was not a problem. Jewish schools tend to have high academic standards and people want to teach there. Apart from the Jewish studies side, half the staff were non-Jewish. We didn't go out of our way to recruit Jewish staff but if they applied it was a bonus because it sets a good role-model . . . But it was very, very difficult indeed to get Jewish studies staff. To get Jewish studies staff was a constant headache, not just for us, but for all the Jewish schools. Just so few people want to do it, we were always looking for proper teachers who could actually teach. (Headteacher at a London secondary school) 

One Jewish studies teacher in a central Orthodox London secondary school spoke of how several of his departmental colleagues had left in the previous academic year, and that trying to replace them was proving difficult; while the school had received applications for the posts, none was considered suitable. He argued that the shortfall in Jewish studies teachers was due to low pay, societal perceptions of teaching and a lack of training:

There are problems of financial incentives, a schoolteacher doesn't earn as much as if you wanted to go into law or accountancy. Part of it is perception, that you couldn't do anything else so you went into teaching; the esteem of teachers is not very good. It's also to do with the training within the community, the encouragement within the community for more people to involve themselves in Jewish education.

Historically, Judaic subjects have been staffed on a different basis to secular studies, with Jewish studies and Hebrew teachers being supernumerary, with salaries paid for out of parental contributions and grants from charitable foundations. These staff members have often had no professional teaching qualifications recognized by the government. Jewish studies staff have often been local rabbis or have come from yeshivot or seminaries, while Hebrew teachers have typically been Israeli teachers with no qualifications for teaching the subject as a foreign language.(3) While such staff may have had a strong commitment to teaching and a deep knowledge of the subject area, without appropriate class-management and teaching skills, educational standards almost inevitably suffer.

Problems relating to the recruitment and retention of Jewish studies staff are well known among Jewish communal leaders, and a number of educational human resource strategies have now been designed to begin addressing the problems. For example, the United Synagogue's Agency for Jewish Education (AJE) and the UJIA have formed the Jewish Teacher Training Partnership (JTTP) to enable Jewish teachers to gain formal qualifications. The JTTP offers a Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) that leads to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS); the Registered Teacher Programme (RTP) that leads to a degree and QTS; and the School Centred Initial Teacher Training Programme (SCIT) designed for graduates wanting to complete a one-year Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course for primary level. Nonetheless, for the Jewish studies teacher cited above, even more needs to be done:

To get more Jewish studies teachers, we should engage in a big recruitment and training programme, maybe take fifty key young people between the ages of 18 and 23 who are inspired to be in Jewish education . . . engage them in some training in Israel for a couple of years, then create the opportunities for them to be involved in different levels of Jewish education. Encourage people to start off in a career in Jewish education. We would have to entice them by saying there'd be certain scholarships or bursaries given to them in their first few years of employment. There's talented people out there who aren't getting involved.

Parents were also aware of the difficulties of recruiting suitably qualified Jewish studies staff. For example, one parent complained that the only lesson his son gets into trouble in was Jewish studies, because the teacher could not control the class and so was constantly handing out after-school detentions. Another secondary school parent in a more religious school was worried about teachers emerging straight out of seminaries with inadequate skills and experience: 

I am concerned about the young, unqualified teachers, the Jewish studies teachers. My daughter has been inspired by some of her Jewish studies teachers, but there are teachers who come with very poor management skills, class-management skills that she homes in on immediately. I would like the teachers to have more mentoring and training. They shouldn't be given form tutor roles when they're fresh out of sem[inary] and are inexperienced. I would really aim for the professionalization of the Jewish studies teachers. I think we've got to start making demands, I think parents have to start making demands. Sem is not training for teachers.

Among general concerns about Jewish studies teaching there were, however, dissenting voices. One parent/governor at an Orthodox primary school argued that Jewish studies was taught to an extremely high standard, while another parent stated that the Jewish studies taught was 'Okay, just not very exciting'. The Pikuach report into standards of Judaic education assessed the teaching of Jewish studies in Jewish schools as mostly 'sound', and in half the cases as 'good'.(4) Nonetheless, the report acknowledged variations in teaching standards between schools, identified problems such as resource shortages and a need for 'many more training opportunities for teachers of Jewish studies at all levels and in all schools'.(5) Moreover, the lack of a shared curriculum means that there is no comparative framework for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of Judaic teaching across the range of Jewish day schools.

Senior management and governance

Along with issues of general staff recruitment and Judaic subject teachers, interviewees also spoke of issues relating to senior management that parallel those in the UK education system more generally. Many identified strong leadership as a key factor in the success of their children's education, although others identified this as more of an area of concern. In particular, education providers often spoke of sectoral difficulties in acquiring senior members of staff: 

It's very difficult to get senior staff in [the regions], they're very difficult to replace . . . It's ten times harder than in London because people won't settle here. Very few people are familiar with both the religious and the secular sides. Historically, Jewish studies teachers didn't have qualifications so they don't go further, there was a glass ceiling. (Headteacher at a regional primary school)

Because education works as a series of systems (as discussed in Chapter 3), difficulties in attracting younger or less experienced teachers inevitably lead to problems in recruiting headteachers, senior managers and departmental heads in later years. Several Jewish schools have publicly suffered from such problems in recent years. Note also that a number of Jewish day schools have non-Jewish headteachers. The appointment of headteachers is particularly difficult because of underlying ideological religious and ethos issues of concern to parents and governors. Headteachers are key to the tone, ethos and educational standards of schools, and governors have to make difficult decisions about how traditional or modern potential candidates are, as well as about their religious and educational commitments and capabilities. With a shortage of potential candidates this is especially problematic.

In terms of governance, the recent JPR report by Margaret Harris and Colin Rochester emphasized the high level of commitment shown by members of Jewish governing bodies. Nevertheless, it also raised problems concerning the general recruitment of volunteers for lay-leadership positions, religious differences intensifying competition for new recruits, a shortage of younger volunteers and difficulties related to the length of time that certain key individuals stay within their posts.(6) As Chapter 4 showed, key individuals in governance roles can have a major impact on academic success and the environment of schools. However, this also raises questions about the relative power of individuals and communal agencies as opposed to the parents and pupils who are the service users, and arguably the key stakeholders, of schools (see Chapter 10).

Financing

Issues of human resources, marketing in regional areas and indeed almost every aspect of running an educational establishment inevitably come down to questions of financing. Several headteachers identified budget deficits or lack of funding as the biggest problem they face. One headteacher of a state sector primary school argued that because the local authority did not have much money, the school had constant difficulties in trying to fund the activities and staff they wanted. 

For schools that are also under-subscribed, competition for children--and hence issues of marketing--are of crucial importance to the financial survival of institutions. Pressures to alter a school's ethos, for example, the pressures to move to the 'right' mentioned earlier, can be difficult to resist. While no interviewees identified any immediate financial threat of closure or other difficulties faced by schools at the primary or secondary level, nursery schools in Brighton and Hove and in Cardiff have had to close due to a shortage of suitably aged children, making them no longer financially viable. 

Many issues of financing are, of course, common right across the UK education sector, although it is also important to identify the help provided by specifically Jewish organizations. A number of headteachers praised organizations such as the UJIA, AJE and CJE for help in funding specific projects and for staff training schemes. Among the projects made possible by such financial support were organized school trips to Israel, the hiring of youth workers to establish links between schools and Jewish organizations, help for students moving to non-Jewish secondary schools, and the acquisition of Jewish studies computer programs. Nonetheless, because the primary added-value of Jewish day schools--the Judaic content--is largely paid for from voluntary contributions, improvements in this area will inevitably be linked to the financial resources available for recruiting, retaining and training these key workers.

Communication and information

As part of the OFSTED inspection reports, parents are asked to complete a questionnaire detailing their views of their children's education. Parents are asked to record to what extent they agree or disagree with a series of short statements. These statements can be divided into two distinct themes: first, parental perceptions of their interactions with the school; second, how they perceive the standard of education their children are receiving. Regarding the first theme, parents are asked to respond to statements such as 'I feel the school encourages parents to play an active part in the life of the school' and 'The school handles complaints from parents well.' Regarding the second theme, parents are asked to respond to statements such as 'The school enables my child(ren) to achieve a good standard of work' and 'The school achieves high standards of good behaviour.' Table 6 has been calculated by scoring the responses for these questions (out of a maximum of 5 points) so as to ascertain how parents perceive their children's schooling. The scores are based on a 5-point scale of parents' satisfaction: 5 points for 'strongly agree' that the school interacts well with parents or provides a good standard of education; 4 points for 'agree'; 3 points for 'neither'; 2 points for 'disagree'; 1 point for 'strongly disagree'. Note, however, that the percentage of parents who answered the questionnaires varied quite dramatically between Jewish schools, ranging from only 11 per cent to 49 per cent; the sample therefore is not necessarily fully representative.

Table 6 Parental perceptions of their children's Jewish day school

Table 6 shows that those parents who answered the questionnaires generally agree that their children are getting a good standard of education. In terms of parental perceptions of how well they are able to interact with the school, there is a slightly lower mean average and a greater range of responses. Such differences suggest that, while some schools are perceived to be very good at communicating with parents, in others this appears to be more of an issue. This is also reflected in the qualitative data:

The partnership with the school was good, we felt we could influence what was going on in the school by being able to talk to the staff. You could walk into the school and have a few words with the teacher at any time, the school had a policy that if you wanted to see your class teacher, you could do so in 24 hours, which is wonderful, it gives you a lot of comfort. It's very open, they weren't hiding, parents were encouraged to come and talk about things that were concerning them, and we all worked together. (Primary school parent)

For some of the parents interviewed, the sense of being in a partnership with their school was clearly evident. While there were no obvious geographic patterns to these views, parents did recognize that, at primary level, schools usually had more time for communicating with them than at secondary level. Several parents spoke of the warmth and family feel of the school, a close relationship in which 'parents' voices are heard', 'everyone knows everyone' and 'there is no real separation between parents and teachers, we're doing this together'. Nonetheless, other parents expressed more disquiet. 

There's very little feedback that they give or that they want from us. I don't know whether it's right to say that they want a 9 to 5 job and they don't want anything else. Although they're very good on the education side, they're not a very good listening school sometimes. (Primary school parent)

These particular parents felt that there was no real forum in which they could express their concerns, and that, while there was a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), this was basically set up to run charity events and conduct security arrangements: 'It's just four or five people who sit down and decide how they're going to raise money . . . They don't leave an open area for those that disagree with their viewpoints, there's no opening for you, their way is the right way.' 

From an institutional perspective, headteachers and governors were often aware of such feelings, but argued that there were a range of forums available to parents. If parents had concerns, they could approach individual teachers, senior management, the boards of governors or they could express their views at annual meetings. According to one headteacher, however, parents were often unwilling to involve themselves in governing boards, PTAs, attend annual meetings or even read the literature produced. One school governor complained that, while parents had a mass of information sent and available to them, they were still 'not that well informed'. Moreover, such a lack of information did not stop 'playground gossip' or, in the words of one parent, 'the little social circles that discuss issues that get built up out of proportion; every minor thing is too open for discussion and criticism'. A number of providers also spoke of Jewish parents as being very demanding. 'Jewish parents are not backwards in coming forward. If they've got a problem they'll come and tell me . . . in practice Jewish parents tell you exactly what they think every minute of every day' (headteacher of a primary school). 

While the perception among many is that Jewish parents are 'pushy', other parents interviewed were clearly intimidated and reluctant to approach schools unless problems were particularly serious. One parent spoke of a reluctance to 'stir up trouble', particularly when she had spoken to her child's teacher and 'felt like I was talking to a brick wall'. A defensive attitude by teachers, perhaps in response to having to deal with more demanding parents, can be off-putting to those who may have legitimate fears or concerns, but are unable or unwilling to articulate them forcefully. 

Part and parcel with issues concerning parent-school communication and partnerships is the information that is available to parents and guardians when they are making key educational choices. Several parents spoke of the difficulties of trying to choose the right school, particularly for their eldest child: 'For your first child you torture yourself with every decision you make.' Nonetheless, as is discussed in Chapter 9, parents often make such decisions based on 'word-of-mouth', friendship networks and 'hearsay'. A number of parents, though not all, believed that there was not enough easily accessible information available to help them make the best choices. As one parent argued, 'Information is so scrappy, it feels like there's no one out there to guide you.' For this parent, a school fair organized by the AJE proved one useful way to gather together the different institutions that could 'go out there and sell their wares'. Such informational problems would potentially be worse for parents who had recently moved to a new area, and whose informal network of advice-givers would be less developed. In a number of London Jewish schools, however, such people may have little chance of gaining entry for their children anyway, because they would not have a sibling already attending. Being 'picky' about which schools to choose is a luxury that at least some parents believed they did not have: 'In the end the schools were over-subscribed; we were trying to sell ourselves to the schools, not the other way around.' Even so, individual school communication policies and more integrated communal information strategies are areas that should be addressed.

Conclusions

In addition to the various categories and typologies of Jewish day schools discussed in Chapter 3, it is also useful to conceptualize institutions as either 'rationing' pupils or 'recruiting' pupils. Schools that are over-subscribed can have narrower and more selective admissions criteria, adopting a school ethos specific to the vision and ideals of founders, funders, governors and senior management. Schools that are under-subscribed by Jewish pupils, however, generally require more open and inclusive selection criteria. In areas where a number of Jewish day schools are 'rationing' pupils, there are communal questions as to whether the provision of places is adequate or should be increased, questions that simply do not apply to 'recruiting' schools such as those in Glasgow, Birmingham and Liverpool. Questions of under- or over-provision of Jewish day school places require detailed local knowledge of demographics, as well as of parental needs and wants (as discussed in Chapter 9). Overall statements about whether there is an over- or under-provision of places are thus unhelpful: geography matters.

A second key area of concern relates to human resources and the recruitment, retention and training of suitably qualified teaching staff, especially Jewish studies teachers. Because of the importance of Judaic education generally in the ethos and missions of schools, teacher shortages and a lack of qualifications in this area are of prime concern. Moreover, present-day teacher shortages will lead to problems in recruiting senior teachers and management in later years; indeed, this has already affected a number of Jewish day schools. Interlinked with these concerns are financial issues. All schools would obviously like more money to improve educational provision. Nevertheless, particularly relevant are the amounts spent on Judaic content and the financial resources available for recruiting, retaining and training Judaic teachers. Finally, issues of communication and information--both in individual schools and in the overall system (or systems) of Jewish day school education--also need to be addressed. Some schools may be able to improve parent-school partnerships by improved communication and accessibility; however, a more comprehensive umbrella education information service should also be considered.

Notes

1 For demographic data on school capacity and Jewish population size, see forthcoming report by Rona Hart and Marlena Schmool. [back]

2 JEDT, 26. [back]

3 Judith Keiner, 'Opening up Jewish education to inspection: the impact of the OFSTED inspection system in England', Education Policy Analysis Archives, vol. 4, no. 5, 1996; see also JEDT. [back]

4 Pikuach. [back]

5 Ibid., 14. [back]

6 Margaret Harris and Colin Rochester, Governance in the Jewish Voluntary Sector (London: Institute for Jewish Policy Research 2001). [back]