One-way street: Religious teachers flow into state education. In the opposite direction, the door is locked

The shortage of teachers in the education system, estimated at thousands and concentrated mainly in the central region, has led in recent years to an increasing movement of teaching staff between the streams of education. One of the prominent phenomena is the entry of teachers who were trained or grew up in state-religious education, the Arab sector, and the Haredi society into state-Hebrew schools. In the opposite direction, however, the transition is much more complex and sometimes not possible at all.

According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, in the years 2008-2025 there was an increase in the rate of Haredi seminary graduates entering teaching in schools belonging to the state-Hebrew sector (from about 4% to about 9%) and to the state-religious sector (from about 19% to about 23%). Among Haredi women, the rate of those entering state-Hebrew education rose from about 5% to about 11%, and the rate of those entering state-religious education rose from about 19% to about 27%.

At the same time, among graduates of academic conversion programs in state-religious education, there was a dramatic increase in the rate of those entering teaching in schools belonging to state-Hebrew education - from about 34% in 2008 to about 75% in 2025. Among recipients of a "Bachelor of Education" degree in state-religious education, there was an increase from about 14% to about 29%. A similar trend is recorded in the Arab sector: among recipients of a "Bachelor of Education" degree in state-Arab education, there was an increase in the rate of those entering teaching in state-Hebrew education from about 3% in 2008 to about 24% in 2025, and among graduates of academic conversion programs in Arab education, the rate jumped from about 4% to 24%.

This teaching movement occurs mostly in one direction. When a teacher who studied in the state stream asks to enter teaching in the state-religious stream, he encounters a built-in barrier: according to the State Education Law, state-religious educational institutions are religious in their way of life, their curriculum, their teachers, and their inspectors, and in them they educate for a life of Torah and commandments according to the religious tradition and in the spirit of religious Zionism. The law even grants the Council for State-Religious Education explicit authority to disqualify, for religious reasons only, the appointment or continued service of a principal, inspector, or teacher in its institutions.

Dr. Ariel Levi, CEO of the Council for State-Hebrew Education and former senior deputy director general at the Ministry of Education and head of the pedagogical administration, sees value in the entry of teachers from different backgrounds into state schools. However, he warns that alongside diversity, dedicated training is required that will allow teachers to get to know the character and worldview of state-Hebrew education.

"A variety of teachers is a great value," says Levi in an interview with Walla. "Unlike other streams, the only stream that people from all streams come and teach in is the state-Hebrew stream. I think it is good that there is variety, but this openness should not come at the expense of the school's educational identity. A teacher who was trained in state-religious education and enters a state school must understand that in matters of Judaism, democracy, and Zionism, there are differences in the way things are taught and presented to students."

"We would expect every teacher who enters our stream to undergo some kind of orientation and training on how to be a spokesperson for the stream," explains Levi. "It doesn't matter if he comes from the Arab, religious, or Haredi stream." One of the main examples that Levi presents concerns Jewish studies: "Israeli Judaism is a Judaism that relies on cultural and national assets, but education for commandments does not happen in our school. These are the kinds of things a teacher needs to know when he enters to teach in the stream."

Levi points to two main reasons for the increased movement of teachers to state education: "Over a great many years, a situation has been created where the ethos of being an educator among the graduates of our stream is not strong enough. Graduates of the state-Hebrew stream are looking for careers in education, but also in other fields. Unfortunately, the ethos that being a public servant, and certainly an education worker, is a calling and a goal, as happens in the state-religious sector, has not been created enough. In this sense, we have something to learn."

The second reason, according to him, is the practical need of schools for teachers against the background of the acute shortage, especially in the center of the country: "The shortage of teachers is an issue that needs to be dismantled. It is not uniform - neither across the streams nor across the regions of the country. There is a great shortage in the center of the country, where there is a majority for state-Hebrew education. Teachers who also need to live in the center of the country and also deal with the cost of living probably prefer to look for other jobs. Few of the state education graduates want to be teachers, and this needs to be increased and worked on very hard."

Levi emphasizes that the presence of teachers from diverse backgrounds in the classroom also brings with it daily complexities. "When a teacher enters a classroom, he brings himself fully," he says. "Therefore, the question is not whether to allow a religious or Haredi teacher to teach in a state school, but how to ensure that he knows the context in which he is teaching. We have met religious teachers who come to teach in a state-Hebrew school and often do not allow themselves to talk about complex issues because they are afraid of being labeled. On the other hand, there are cases, of course on the margins, where the influence and ideological perception is very present in the classroom and it is less suitable for the stream, but that does not mean that because of this one should give up on diversity."

Levi further adds that sometimes the very identity of the teacher leads to reactions from the environment: "It is enough for a teacher to arrive in a classroom and be labeled to one stream or another, and she might absorb barbs, comments, and even objections from parents. Our unequivocal statement is that one does not judge a person by their worldview. The child is exposed to a variety of teachers and understands that there is a variety of people, positions, and perceptions - this is super important. The solution is adapted training and orientation courses, and not closing the door."

Levi regrets that the openness is not mutual: "I wish they would open the gates for value-based, ideological, and identity-based reasons, and that diversity would be important to other streams as well. We would be very happy if our teachers would also teach in other streams. I understand the desire of a school to maintain its identity, and we also ask to maintain a 'critical mass' of education workers identified with state-Hebrew education, but we do not prevent diversity."

Facing this situation, there are those who call on the system to use the crisis for a systemic soul-searching and a comprehensive policy change.

"The shortage of teachers is not just a crisis, it is an opportunity to dismantle the walls between the streams and build a more shared Israeli education system in the Israel of 2026," says Mendy Rabinowitz to Walla, an educator, CEO of the Beit Berl Academic College, and former director of the Reali School in Haifa.

"While the education system is desperate for thousands of teachers and the State of Israel is on a slippery slope of deep identity-based division, the Israel of 2026 cannot afford to continue to operate in a tribal manner," adds Rabinowitz. "Education is the key to starting the repair and breaking the walls. Teachers from state-religious education are invited, and rightly so, to teach in state education, but it is time for the movement to be two-way. An excellent teacher from state education should be able to integrate and influence also in state-religious education."