Our Team
The Center has a large research team of faculty and student researchers who leads the research processes in the research and development partnerships. The Center's Board members are researchers specializing in a wide range of disciplines.
Yariv Feniger | Chair of the Center
Associate Professor at the School of Education at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Chairperson of the Center, and member of the Center's Board.
I hold a Ph.D. in Sociology and Anthropology from Tel Aviv University (2009). My main fields of interest are inequality in education and education policy. My research focuses on class, ethnic and gender gaps in secondary and higher education, as well as the effects of national and international standardized tests on education policy and schools.
fenigery@bgu.ac.il
Adam Lefstein | Board member of the Center
I am Director of the Seymour (Shlomo) Fox School of Education of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Board member of the Center. I founded the Center and was its first chairperson. My research studies focus on pedagogy, classroom discourse and interaction, dialogical pedagogy, teacher learning and educational change processes. I am particularly interested in the intersections between research and professional practice and how to conduct research that is scientifically meaningful and rigorous and practically helpful for educators. Before my current position at the Hebrew University, I was a faculty member of the Education Department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and of the Institute of Education, London University. Before entering academia, I worked as a teacher and mentored teachers at the Branco-Weiss Institute for the Development of Thinking.
Hadar Baharav | Center Director
I believe that collaborative work with various interest groups in the field of education –practitioners, policymakers, and researchers - promotes relevant action and brings each group closer to realizing its purpose. Before joining the Center, I worked at the Stanford University School of Education in California at a Center for collaborative applied research. At Stanford, I managed research projects in partnerships with educational/social organizations to improve policies, processes, and action for the target populations. I also mentored regional organizations and partnerships in developing research skills and organizational learning for strategic leadership and the establishment of process and result indicators. I hold a Ph.D. in education, with an emphasis on quantitative research methods, from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), a master's degree in organizational-social psychology from Bar-Ilan University, and a teaching diploma from Seminar Hakibutzim College.
I am the mother of Eli and Itamar, and a catchball player in the Mamanet League in Ramat Gan.
baharavh@bgu.ac.il
Shirli Ofer | Director of the Partnerships
Pedagogical Partnership Director and a member of the core team of the Center. My responsibilities include coordinating the work interfaces and the Center's collaborations with educational entities. I hold a double master's degree in Education Systems Management and Curriculum Studies and a bachelor's degree in Special Education. I have nineteen years of experience in the education system, seven of which as a school principal.
Shirliof@bgu.ac.il
Matan Barak | Director of Design & Development
I am the Director of Development at the Center. My responsibilities entail supporting the development processes in research-practice partnerships, including strategy formulation, collaboration and learning, design of development products and their dissemination. I also engage in the study of these joint development processes.
I hold a Ph.D. from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. My thesis dealt with the integration of dialogic pedagogy and the challenges of changing the discourse in the classroom. In conducting the research, I led the development work in the Productive Pedagogical Discourse Program, coached and worked with teachers and instructors in the development of professional tools and resources. In the past, I worked for a decade as a homeroom high-school teacher, after which I was a fellow at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, and then in research and development at the Avney Rosha Institute. I live in Tel Aviv with my partner and two children, like to cook and try to run.
Ziv Goldberg | Development & Design
Ziv Goldberg is engaged in design and development processes at the Center for Pedagogical Research. As part of his role at the center, he develops and designs materials in collaboration with the institute's researchers and schoolteachers within the projects "Mathematics Promoting Equity" and "Dialogical Writing."
Ziv has extensive experience in the educational field, including management roles at the Experimental-Argentina School and leading teacher training programs at leading academic institutions.
Alongside his work at the center, he is a board member and heads the collaboration initiatives in the Special Training Unit at Kibbutzim College, where he leads innovative teacher training programs.
His current doctoral research at Ben-Gurion University focuses on developmental-pedagogical approaches and progressive schools in Israel.
Ziv holds a master’s degree from Bar-Ilan University in the field of Technology, Science, and Society, and a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Ben-Gurion University.
He grew up in Jerusalem with his partner and their two children.
Hadar Azulai Lieberman | Head of Communication and Knowledge Sharing
Hadar leads the field of communication and knowledge sharing at the center. In her role, she is responsible for advancing the center's communication strategy, making its content accessible and tailored to various target audiences while maintaining consistent branding and distinctiveness.
She works to create and nurture spaces for knowledge sharing and supports the production of research-based development outputs.
Hadar holds a master's degree in Social Psychology from Ben-Gurion University.
In the past, she worked as a journalist, editor, ghostwriter, content creator, and was involved in public relations and marketing in various settings and for different companies.
She lives in Be'er Sheva with her partner and their daughter, Yuval.
Etan Cohen | Lead Researcher
I am interested in the professional knowledge of teachers, the way they develop and share their knowledge on teaching, and ways for supporting teachers and teaching. In my doctoral studies, which I completed in 2020 at the University of Haifa, I studied professional learning communities in technology-enhanced learning environments that I also helped to design. In the past, I was a teacher of Jewish Thought and a homeroom teacher at Maccabim-Reut Mor High School. I live in Modiin with my wife and our four children, and in my free time I like to climb walls.
etanc@bgu.ac.il
Miriam Babichenko | Lead Researcher
I hold a Ph.D. in Education from the Hebrew University. My research focuses on teaching teachers in professional learning communities in teacher teams and individual instruction. I am particularly interested in how teachers learn (or don't learn) to adopt student-centered dialogical pedagogy practices as well as equity-oriented practices.
In my research study, I examine teachers' discourse as a source of professional learning and combine qualitative and quantitative research methods for studying the discourse.
In the past, I taught mathematics in junior high school and lectured in the teacher training track at the Hebrew University and in master's degree studies in education at Ben Gurion University. I also coordinated the research work at the Learning & Interaction Lab of Prof. Christa Asterhan at the Hebrew University.
My partner and I are raising our four children in Motsa Elite.
Dvorah Kremer | Administrative Coordinator
I have been working at Ben Gurion University of the Negev for about twenty years in a variety of positions. During these years, I have gained experience and many skills as an administrative coordinator. I hold a general bachelor's degree. I am passionate about art and traveling.
dvorak@bgu.ac.il
Academic Partners
The center collaborates with academic partners who specialize in the education field
Aviv Orner
Leads the partnership on gender equity in classroom discourse. Aviv is an Azrieli doctoral fellow at the School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her PhD research focuses on the social construction of gender in classroom discourse in elementary schools, aiming to promote gender equity by developing tools and practices to reduce gender bias in schools. Aviv lives in Tel Aviv with her partner and their sweet dog Esh. She loves hiking, music, and art.
Dr. Edith Bouton
Postdoctoral fellow at the Center. My research focuses on theoretical and operative definitions of productive pedagogical discourse in the classroom. I am particularly interested in the learner's experience, gains, challenges, interpersonal differences, and their effect on the ability to expand dialogical pedagogy in the Israeli system of education.
Dr. Islam Abu Assad
My research focuses on the impact of the social context on the acquisition of literacy skills in the first and second grades. I hold a Ph.D. from Ben Gurion University. The subject of my thesis under the supervision of Prof. Adam Lefstein is the interface between Hashkafa - a national movement for teacher leadership and improving the quality of teaching and learning - and the local culture in Arab schools in Israel.
Heli Amossi Levy
Doctoral student, researcher in the project "The Principal and Middle Leadership - Structure, Function and Implications" in a partnership between the Center and Avney Rosha. I am interested in researching professional processes that include methods of consolidation, training processes and professional development of school administrators and teachers.
Dr. Tal Carmi
My research focuses on mentorship relationships and on professional learning communities and how these frameworks are connected to the professional development of educators. In the past, I worked as a drama teacher, a lecturer at the Seminar Hakibutzim College, and a writer and knowledge developer as a member of the Hashkafa R&D team.
Moriah Omer Attali
Interested in the student's experience at school, with a focus on classroom discourse and interaction. My latest research focused on events of laughter in the classroom - what they reveal about balances of power in the classroom, how they affect classroom discourse, and what do they have to do with dialogical pedagogy.
Noy Dali
I graduated with a master's degree in Organizational Sociology and a double major bachelor's degree in Education and Sociology-Anthropology from Ben Gurion University. Today I am a research assistant in a research partnership between the Center and Avney Rosha on the subject of "The Principal and Middle Leadership - Structure, Function and Implications".
Dr. Limor Lotan
Holds a postdoctoral degree in Social Work from Ben-Gurion University. She is a member of the research and development team on poverty-aware education. Limor works as a therapist in the public sector. In the past, she worked in the field of information systems as a programmer, systems analyst, and project manager.