The Ministry of Education’s Society and Youth Administration works to develop a common infrastructure, professional language and working principles for all those involved in non-formal or social-based education. The new joint working group, which first convened in August 2019, is studying the various shared codes and foundations of non-formal education through discussing existing research and engaging current voices from the field. The information gathered will serve the working group to formulate a knowledge theory document which will define the common foundations of non-formal education. It will also present a discussion as well as practical examples from the extensive areas of activity in this sphere both in and out of school.

The working group includes professionals from the field of applied education research and from the Ministry of Education. The group meets every one-to-two months in a limited forum and twice yearly within the broader framework of the Education Theory Forum, which includes additional researchers together with Ministry of Education management and field staff. This wide circle is designed to validate and expand the content being developed in the limited group format.

The working group meetings will address the following topics, among others:

• Mapping arenas of activity in the field of non-formal education in Israel
• Examination of non-formal education models of work in Israel and worldwide
• What overlap is there between non-formal education and 21^st century skills