An International Conference and Workshops

During 2022, the Trump Foundation has been convening a series of events for the general public and the professional community in order to mark ten years of collaborative work promoting excellence in education in Israel. To date, we have organized a special prize ceremony for the tenth year of the Trump Master Teacher Award, launched the publication of 10 books in the “Quality Teaching” series, and initiated the Israeli Excellence Week this coming May, with more than 100 organizations participating in activities across the country.

The purpose of these events, in addition to celebrating ten years of the foundation, is to highlight the impact of the collective effort on the study of mathematics and the sciences, the professionalism of teachers, the systemic effect of joining hands around shared goals and the value of excellence. With these objectives in mind, we are proposing a final event to conclude the year, by adding a global perspective. We wish to invite to Israel a handful of recognized international experts in education from the top performing education systems, including John Hattie from New Zealand, Michael Fullan from Canada, Zbigniew Marciniak from Poland and Chua-Lim Yen Ching from Singapore.

In collaboration with partner organizations and philanthropic foundations, we are planning to convene an international conference in November 2022, at which these experts will be the keynote speakers. The conference will focus on the theme of “How Education Systems Improve”, offering insights from success stories in Israel and abroad. Excellence in mathematics and the sciences will be a major focal point of the conference. There will be 500 Israeli invitees including teachers, school principals, researchers, high-tech executives, municipal leaders and government officials. The Minister of Education will be invited to open the conference.

To prepare the conference, a steering committee, with the participation of education experts and collaborating foundations, will be established. To help plan, coordinate and produce the conference, a production company will be recruited. The conference will be documented and recorded on video and brief, edited video clips of lectures will be uploaded online and disseminated among the public. Traditional and digital media will be harnessed to echo the conference, as well as publish interviews with the international experts.

In addition, with experts of such magnitude arriving in Israel, we will seize the opportunity to conduct a special gala evening followed by two days of internal consultations in order to receive feedback and advice on the foundation’s roadmap, strategy and operations. We intend to ask each of the guests to hold a master class using a fishbowl discussion format, and to conduct designated meetings and workshops with our partners, in order to assist in improving our joint work.