Jewish Lives and Jewish Education in the UK: School, Family and Society

The book explores the evolving relationships between parents and children, the significance of the Jewish school in their lives, how young people think about religious practices, and their lives in the UK. It addresses issues related to families and schooling and pays special attention to the transitions to secondary school and then to life opportunities in the following years. It also uncovers the effect of these transitions on the family, and of the family on those transitions.

The book views these phenomena through the prism of a ten-year period from when research participants were eleven years old until they were twenty-one, drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks to help make sense of what was observed. The data help clarify how Jewish schools function as both public and community-based institutions, and what they do and do not contribute to the lives of young people. The research reported includes large scale survey data sets as well as repeated in-depth interviewswith parents and their children. The findings have multiple implications for practitioners, policy makers and researchers as they seek ways to understand and engage with families and schools. This book also appeals to researchers who are interested in the development of religious and cultural identity in the context of minority groups within multicultural societies.

Dr. Helena Miller, Director of Degrees, Teacher Training Programmes; Senior Research Fellow, London School of Jewish Studies, UK. She has an MA and PhD from London University. She has researched, taught and written widely for many years. She has been involved in creating and supporting many Jewish education initiatives in the UK and overseas, Helena is a past co-chair of Limmud International and is the 2012 recipient of the Max Fisher Prize for outstanding contribution to Jewish education in the Diaspora. She is the recent Senior Editor of the Journal of Jewish Education (2014-20).

Dr. Alex Pomson serves as Principal and Managing Director, Rosov Consulting, USA. Previously he was Koschitzky Family Chair of Jewish Teacher Education at York University, Canada, and a Senior Researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was a member of the founding leadership team of the king Solomon High School, Redbridge. Educated in the UK, with a BA and MA from Cambridge University and a PhD from the Institute of Education, University of London, he now lives in Jerusalem. He is a past chair of the Network for Research in Jewish Education.