How to be inspirational

TEACHING IS tough. Jewish studies teachers face extra challenges. Time for this subject is often limited and teachers need to try fresh approaches to help students develop a personal connection to their faith and tradition. They need to be ready for the challenging questions students ask — a teacher’s response can shape a child’s understanding and connection for years to come.

Thankfully our Jewish school system has flourished over the past 20 years. The LSJS Jewish Teacher Training Partnership, ranked Outstanding by Ofsted, trains, qualifies and places teachers across 30 primary schools and 12 secondary schools each year. But these schools still need to recruit and retain more role models to engage and inspire students to live full Jewish lives.

There is no activity that Judaism values more highly than teaching and learning. Our greatest leaders were not people of wealth and power, but people who imparted the Torah to others. This is the very substance of the end of Deuteronomy, which we read this coming week on Simchat Torah.

It is up to all of us to ensure our coma JS teachers’ conference at LSJS

munity recognises the key leadership role teachers play. There is nothing more important for our community’s leaders than inspiring the next generation with a love of our tradition, imbuing young people with wonder at the world and their place and responsibility as Jews within it. That is why LSJS is launching the Teach to Lead programme: we will help dynamic graduates become inspiring leaders in the classroom and the wider community.

Based on the Teach First model, which has promoted teaching as an elite career choice, Teach to Lead is seeking the highest calibre graduates. It is looking for people who have a track record in Jewish leadership and passion for Jewish values and learning, who are seeking a meaningful and rewarding career. The programme is based around the School Direct fullypaid training programme, with students employed from day one in a Jewish school. It incorporates intensive leadership training. Participants have the option to fast-track to a master’s degree, as well as gaining an internationally recognised teaching qualification, an excellent springboard for the changing job market.

Torah means “instruction” or “teaching”, from the verb lehorot. It is fitting that our Jewish studies teachers should be referred to as morim, from the same root, as those who have the privilege and responsibility of giving over the Torah to the next generation. It is no accident that the word for parents, horim, is also derived from lehorot. We increasingly learn from research about the centrality of parents in promoting children’s Jewish learning. It is our hope that, alongside their parents, our children’s Jewish studies teachers will inspire them and show them the relevance of their Jewish heritage to their 21st-century lives. The future of our community depends on it.

Joanne Greenaway is chief executive of LSJS. To apply to Teach to Lead, see teachtolead.uk