Yozma – Center for Knowledge and Research in Education
Yozma – Center for Knowledge and Research in Education promotes systematic use of up-to-date research-based, critically appraised knowledge in decision-making processes in education. Research knowledge that is readily accessible and available to decision makers and the general public is essential for informed policymaking and optimal planning of interventions to improve educational achievements in Israel.
Yozma operates as a unit of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and oversees the academy’s consulting services on education-related issues to the government and various authorities.
Yozma engages with topics that are on the agenda of educational policymakers through three main activity channels in which researchers, practitioners, and policymakers participate:
- Expert committees address essential topics which the education system regularly engages with. These issues involve multiple elements that often work in opposite directions. The committees are composed of about ten researchers from diverse disciplines, and engage with different aspects of the studied subject. After approximately thirty months of work, the committees submit a report presenting a complex, updated picture of the subject, conclusions, and practical recommendations.
- Working groups are established to formulate a concrete product required for determining or implementing policy, such as a measurement, an evaluation tool, or a study day. These groups consist of administrative and field personnel at the Ministry of Education, and researchers specializing in the subject. In a process lasting between eight and fifteen months, the researchers present a theoretical perspective and scientific foundation, which contribute to development of the required product, and the administrative and field personnel present the practical perspective, and current constraints. The shared learning process produces a practical product.
- Information to Support Planning is a channel of activity designed to provide a response to focused questions on current issue pertaining to Ministry of Education policy outlines. The research is carried out by a Yozma researcher, and lasts about three months. The process is accompanied by an academic advisory committee and an expert in the field. The product is a focused document presenting research reference to the challenge, and a comparative survey of solutions from around the world, both at policy level, and principles for action. The product obtained facilitates research- and knowledge-based planning for decision makers.
Yozma publishes all the products of its work, and makes them accessible to diverse audiences.