What can we learn from watching seven minutes of a Hebrew lesson in an ordinary Israeli classroom? Quite a lot, actually.
In our study of Israeli primary teaching and learning, we observed, recorded, and analyzed 120 lessons in classrooms in two schools, and we spoke with dozens of teachers and educational administrators. We found that one of the major challenges facing Israeli teachers are the multiple competing aims and concerns that they must address.
We demonstrated these tensions in a brief classroom episode from a sixth-grade Hebrew language class in a state primary school. This small slice of experience opens a window into the complexity of everyday teaching and revealed five pedagogical dilemmas that many Israeli educators face regularly.
Rather than framing our analysis around a specific view of good practice, we begin with the classroom itself: its dynamics, challenges, and energies. We work from the ground up, allowing the data to lead us toward a better understanding of teaching rather than forcing empirical reality to fit some preexisting theory.
The classroom episode
We focus here on a brief episode from a sixth-grade class discussion of a short story about social exclusion. The lesson was neither exceptional nor staged. It was part of a broader ethnographic project involving over 120 lesson recordings from two schools. The teacher, whom we call Shlomit, has been teaching for more than 15 years in that school. The seven-minute episode we present here, recorded mid-year, resembled many others we observed.'
It wasn’t perfect, but that is the point. This is everyday teaching, and within it lie multiple competing demands, judgments, and decisions.
The five dilemmas
The story the class discussed is about a group of children who lose a regional sports competition solely to protect one of their teammates who was ridiculed by the opposing team on account of her weight. The teacher reads the opening of the story, and the students discuss their predictions about how the event will unfold. From this short discussion, we identified five core pedagogical dilemmas – none of which have easy answers:
Managing classroom discussion
Should a teacher tightly steer class discussion to maintain control and focus, or allow space for student-led dialogue, even at the risk of disorder or confusion? The episode shows Shlomit walking this tightrope, sometimes nudging the conversation forward, other times letting it take its own shape.
Using drama in teaching
Shlomit introduced a dramatic activity to spark engagement. While effective in grabbing attention, this strategy raised questions about its alignment with learning goals. Drama can deepen learning, but it can sometimes distract from it.
Responding to disruptions
When a student disrupted the class at a key moment, Shlomit had to decide: address the interruption and risk derailing the lesson, or ignore it and potentially undermine her authority? This tension – between discipline and continuity – is familiar to every teacher in rambunctious Israeli classrooms.
Leveraging competition
A competitive atmosphere developed, which both energized the class and triggered anxiety and social tension. When is competition healthy and motivating, and when does it exclude or discourage?
Juggling multiple teaching goals
Academic progress, social skills, emotional support, behavior management – teachers are expected to address all these concerns, often simultaneously. In this episode, Shlomit constantly balanced these goals, sometimes in conflict with each other.
These dilemmas weren’t cherry-picked. They emerged organically from the classroom, and they resonated with teachers across our broader data set. They reflect the competing expectations, limited resources, and split-second decisions that define real teaching.
An Israeli pedagogical reality
These tensions are especially pronounced in Israel, where the education system is marked by a unique mix of centralization and fragmentation. The Ministry of Education sets policy and curriculum, but different units within the ministry, together with municipalities and third-sector organizations, advance various agendas and programs. Schools are thus accountable to multiple – and sometimes conflicting – authorities.
Add to that the cultural backdrop. Israeli classrooms, much like Israeli society, are often characterized by directness, informality, and a healthy skepticism toward authority. This creates both opportunities for authentic engagement and challenges for maintaining structure.
We surmise that the dilemmas we identified – between authority and freedom, group and individual needs, academic and moral goals – are not incidental but central to Israeli education. They reflect broader societal tensions, and they may even define our pedagogical identity.
Implications for teachers and policymakers
We do not claim to offer solutions. Instead, we offer a lens – a way of looking at practice that respects its complexity. By engaging teachers in close analysis of classroom episodes, we believe they can develop greater sensitivity to the complexities of teaching and sharpen their professional judgment.
In fact, when we used this episode in professional development workshops, many educators initially focused on one issue – often judging the teacher quickly and sometimes harshly. But with deeper analysis, their perspectives shifted. They began to appreciate the trade-offs and constraints and the choices Shlomit made on the spot.
This, we contend, is the value of dilemma-based inquiry. It slows us down. It challenges simplistic assessments. And it invites richer, more honest conversations about what good teaching really involves.
Final thoughts
Teaching is complex, context-dependent, and full of contradictions. No checklist or model can fully capture it. By studying a single, ordinary lesson in extraordinary detail, we hope to bring attention back to the lived experience of teachers – and to the importance of supporting them in navigating uncertainty with wisdom and care.
Rather than chasing universal best practices, perhaps we should start by asking: What tensions are teachers grappling with? What trade-offs are they making? And how can we help them think through these choices more clearly?
Only then can we begin to build an education system that truly honors the richness of classroom life.■
Prof. Adam Lefstein is the Morton L. Mandel Director of the Seymour Fox School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research and teaching focus on pedagogy, classroom interaction, teacher learning, and educational change.
Dr. Mirit Israeli is head of the SHAHAF program of teachers’ training for academics, and pedagogical instructor of the program at Kaye College of Beersheba. Her research and teaching focus on pedagogy, classroom dialogic interaction, teacher leadership, and learning in-service and pre-service.
Dr. Itay Pollak is a pedagogical consultant at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Maya Bozo-Schwartz is the director of the Mandel Graduate Unit at the Mandel Foundation, and a PhD candidate at the School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.