ABOUT ESHBAL
We put our students at the center of the education, focusing on each individual student’s needs. We act as mentors and through dialogue and project based learning, we impart values, life skills, and responsibility for oneself and one’s community. The work is intense; living with my fellow educators at Dror Eshbal, sharing challenges and new ideas, we are able to give our best each and every day.”
Oded Livneh, 28
counselor at Dror Eshbal Boarding School
A COMMUNITY OF EDUCATORS CHANGING LIVES
Dror Eshbal is a thriving center of living and learning. Our schools serve Israel’s most troubled youth at risk who have struggled in all other educational and welfare settings.
Ninety trained educators share purpose and resources in this modern day educators kibbutz. We work in schools and community centers on the periphery throughout the Galil region in Northern Israel to improve communities facing social and economic challenges.
OUR SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS ARE IN HIGH DEMAND AND NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR IMPACT:
Schools
Dror Eshbal Boarding School
serves Israel’s most troubled youth at risk
Humanity, Society, and Nature High School
offers project-based learning, with unique tracks in photography and therapeutic horse and dog training for youth at risk
Network of schools - pre-school to high school
offers dialogue and values-based, hands-on education to hundreds of children ages 2-18
Community Programs
Eshbal Shared Society Center for Co-existence
serves Jewish, Arab, and Bedouin communities, educating youth through multi-cultural experiences
Camping Center with environmental educational programming
welcomes thousands from all over the world, to participate in team building activities and explore the history of the Galil Region
Youth Movement
(Misgav Branch)
activities in this mixed region teach leadership skills and democratic values to Jewish and Arab teens to help build bridges and work toward shared society
We may live in a mixed region, but Jews and Arabs don’t really mix. Dror brings us together. If we can understand each other, if we can talk and share holidays, we can create a better future for Israel.”
Roi Elad, 16, member of Dror Youth Movement’s Misgav Branch
OUR SOCIAL EDUCATIONAL PEDAGOGY
At Dror Eshbal, we believe in the essential connection between education and society. Inseparable, the two create meaningful education that binds the individual to society, so students take responsibility not only for their own challenges and successes, but importantly, for those of their communities.
Individual students, not predetermined structures, are central to the educational process. Principles of this “social pedagogy” are:
1
Belief in the right and ability of each student to express themselves in their own unique way
4
Peer group activities that foster belonging and growth within classrooms, social groups, staff, and communities
2
Creation of change-generating experiences which give each student a direction toward a life of meaning
5
Learning experiences that deal with real life challenges to give students knowledge, skills, and abilities essential to drive positive social change
3
Values-based dialogue that imparts values, responsibility, creativity, and leadership
ESHBAL IS PART OF
THE DROR ISRAEL NETWORK
Dror Israel is a network of 1,300 trained educators in 16 communities on the social and economic periphery. Dedicated to social justice, we live in the neighborhoods we serve, bridging gaps, solving local problems. Through our youth movement, schools, and local and national programming, we better the lives of 150,000 people every year. Through truly innovative education based on dialogue and understanding, we teach leadership and responsibility for self and community. We promote social activism to drive positive change.