Yaacov Hecht

In 1987 Yaacov founded the Democratic School in Hadera, and coined the term democratic school which is in use worldwide today. In 1993 Yaacov convened the first International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) in Israel. The conference continues to take place each year by a different organization around the world. In 1995 Yaacov founded the first Institute for Democratic Education (IDE) and led it until 2010. In 2000 Yaacov initiated the “Education Cities” concept, and implemented it in 6 residential areas in Israel. In 2010 Yaacov became a co-founder of a new organization named "Education Cities – The art of collaborations". This organization focuses on coordinating regional programs that view the entire city as one big school.