The Education Reform: A Teachers’ Perspective

Teachers are the stalwart of the education system and the most significant factor affecting its success and achievements, and their commitment to the social, moral and academic education of students is therefore a prerequisite to the success of the education system as a whole. Unfortunately, teachers’ professional status has declined over the years; the system and its teachers yearn for reforms as a means of adapting the system to the twenty-first century. This research examined teachers’ attitudes towards the reforms, a decade after their introduction. Its goal is to discover whether the latest reforms in Israel achieved their goals and improved teachers’ status? This was explored from the teachers’ perspective – professional status, their perceptions of self as teachers. A New Zealand study on teachers’ status notes three primary components: power, money, and fame. Teachers are considered to be of low status, despite the existence of the secondary factors in the professional aspect. They are professionally trained, skilled, and significantly impact the future of society. Nevertheless, none of these factors independently lead to a high professional status. We surveyed 359 middle and high school teachers in Israel and performed a stepwise regression analysis which revealed the presence of three explaining variables. Teacher status can thus be explained through salary, improved image, and empowerment [F(3,296)=61.85, P