In the fall of 2015, Village Way Educational Initiatives launched its Trailblazer’s course for emerging leaders in partnering educational communities in order to set new paths for learning. The “Trailblazers” recently completed their one-year program and will now set a new course in education in their own communities.
The course is organized in cooperation with Tel Aviv University’s Continuing Education Unit.
The Trailblazer participants are a highly selective group of community representatives from across the Village Way educational movement. They were were chosen for this course based on recommendations from school principals and youth village directors. This two phase program aims to broaden and intensify their intellectual understanding of the Village Way methodology, thus deepening their experiential understanding and equipping them with tools to become trainers in their field.
Setting New Paths for Learning
Throughout the year, participants met every two weeks for day-long active learning sessions on theory and practical applications. As a part of the course, educators had to identify a need in their own community and design a new educational program in order to meet this need. This newly-defined “need” will be implemented in the upcoming academic year. Trailblazers will also serve as leaders in the wider Village Way educational movement.
The Trailblazers program was created in memory of Joseph J. Gwirtsman z”l, father of Friends of Yemin Orde’s Board Chair, Charlie Gwirtsman.