Today I want to pay homage to a truly remarkable Jewish educator, Chaya Gorsetman, who recently passed away. Chaya taught education at Stern College and taught at New York’s Heschel School, to name just the roles that I know of. She co-authored the book Educating in the Divine Image: Gender Issues in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools, which won a National Jewish Book Award. I knew Chaya a little from the neighborhood where we both live and from our field of work.
At the shiva and online, the word that kept recurring among those who knew her and worked with her is “mentor.” Whether people took classes with her, whether they worked with her directly or in the same school, or whether they had only spent time speaking with her, so many people saw her as someone with the tremendous capacity to offer valuable guidance. She loved speaking with people and was a consummate listener, able to give succinct, practical feedback–not always the feedback people wanted to hear, but often the feedback they needed–that empowered people to manage situations, learn lessons and grow.
To honor her, I’ll discuss a scholarly paper that she contributed to: “Voices of American and Israeli Early Childhood Educators on Inclusion,” published in International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education in 2016. (It is the sole publication that appears on her Academia.edu page.) The article, astonishingly, is co-written by 12 people, and although I have no idea what role Chaya played in its research and writing, the article seems nonetheless representative of her in several respects: the collaborative nature of the project–like schools themselves; the look at educators in the two countries she lived in and loved passionately; the nuanced exploration of a complex topic, with empathy for the teachers and students, combined with an objective understanding of the needs and circumstances facing the school and the community; the focus on offering guidance for practitioners, and for future researchers.
The paper starts by laying out three models for inclusion: charity, medical, and social. The first two come from a “deficit perspective,” emphasizing the giving of extra attention and resources to a person with needs, whereas the third views inclusion as a matter of equity that benefits all members of society. In the social model, “disability is viewed as neutral or even as a positive enriching aspect.” This view is clearly the ideal in the paper, and among the educators interviewed for the study, but one that is not always easily achieved in practice.
The researchers note that several Jewish teachings and modern thinkers embrace the inclusive approach of the social model, although that approach is not universal in the tradition nor is it always easy for people to articulate. Teachers often express their view, that this model is the Jewish way to approach inclusion, as a feeling, a sense of what’s right and what Judaism is about, whether or not they can produce a source text that embodies this belief.
The study presents the gap, widespread among teachers in various settings, between teachers’ belief in the importance of inclusion and their ability, sometimes willingness, to enact it in their classrooms. Differences emerged in conceptual framing–whether “inclusion” applies just to some students or is a way of thinking about all students. Critical to teacher success, the researchers found, was their training in this work and the support of the school. Several teachers spoke of their fears and insecurity, especially when they first entered the classroom to do this work. Inclusion impacted these teacher’s self-image and confidence as educators. Israeli teachers, accustomed to 35 (!) in a class, expressed the need for smaller groups to be successful. Teachers’ negative feelings about some parents and their lack of support may mask insecurities and lack of training in partnering with families.
The article closes by presenting concrete recommendations for professional development to support teachers. Important future research, according to the study, lies in how disability is defined, identified, and placed in different settings, and, most interesting, an investigation of the view that people become “a better teacher when they engage in inclusion.” Such a study would be valuable indeed.
Even though it’s co-authored with many partners, this valuable article gives a glimpse of the qualities that made Chaya Gorsetman an extraordinary teacher and mentor to so many in our field and beyond. Yehi zichrah baruch.