Among hundreds of graduating teachers, a group of students with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism has graduated from Herzog College as teaching assistants.
The graduation of these first students completes the first stage of this combined academic and vocational project, built by Herzog Academic College in partnership with the Shekel Association and Israel’s Ministry of Welfare, to train people with disabilities to become teaching assistants in preschools and schools.
The program brings together two groups of students on Herzog College’s Migdal Oz campus: those training to become early childhood and special education teachers, and those training to become teaching assistants through the Herzog-Shekel track. It is one of only two programs in Israel offering this kind of vocational training for people with disabilities within an active academic campus, placing its students alongside, rather than apart from, their peers in mainstream higher education.
Today’s graduation ceremony marks the completion of their academic studies. Next year, the graduates will move directly into paid work through a practicum framework, taking on full teaching-assistant roles in schools, while continuing to receive guidance and support from the College. Many of these students struggled within the Israeli education system, but they are returning to the classroom as teaching assistants and inclusion role models.
In the classroom, they will do the same hands-on work that any teaching assistant does – helping a child finish a task, sitting beside them during an activity, and offering encouragement. What’s different is what the other children learn just from being in the room with them. When children turn naturally to a teaching assistant with Down syndrome for help, that moment teaches them more about acceptance than any lesson plan could.
Naama Amit, the Herzog College vocational program coordinator, said: “It was exciting to see the students standing in front of the audience, speaking confidently and honestly about their learning and where they have been working. Each has undergone significant changes, through the knowledge, tools, language, professionalism and confidence that they have acquired, preparing them to enter the world of employment as teaching assistants.”
The program answers two needs at once: it gives people with special needs a real professional and employment track, while strengthening the education system itself with dedicated, high-quality staff. This small graduating cohort demonstrates the potential for building a more inclusive educational model.
Dr. Avichai Kellerman, Herzog College’s Academic Director said: “We all talk about “inclusion” and “embracing difference,” but we’re usually accustomed to seeing people with disabilities as those who need help. This program turns that picture upside down. As Israel’s schools scramble to staff classrooms for next year, Herzog College has over 300 newly-minted teachers joining the education system, as well as these uniquely qualified teaching assistants. Their presence in pre-school classrooms will teach the next generation a lesson that can’t be found in any textbook: a lesson in self-acceptance and the triumph of the human spirit.”