Before and After-School Programs for Children: An International Literature Review

In Israel, welfare-education after-school programs are settings for children under the care of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs or the Ministry of Education that provide children and youth at risk aged with a community setting for after-school activity. The welfare-education after-school “Moadonit” programs for children at risk (hereafter, the programs) operate nationwide; there are 400 educational programs, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, and about 1,000 welfare programs, under the auspices of the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs. Of the welfare programs, 320 are joint programs with the Ministry of Education. According to the operational model of the programs, a variety of activities are provided in each program – educational, therapeutic and behavioral – for about 15 children according to age group. The services are provided by the program staff, which usually includes a social worker, a counselor and a housemother. JDC-Ashalim (an NGO dedicated to reducing the number of Israeli children and youth at risk and to improving their quality of life), the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education, and 360⁰ the National Program for Children and Youth at Risk, identified challenges in providing the best responses to the children in the programs and the need to update the concept of the service, and they are currently updating the model.The literature review presented in this document is part of a comprehensive study on the development and improvement of these programs in Israel, currently being implemented by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. The literature review contains an introduction framing the underlying principles of child-centered services that operate before and after school hours (with a special emphasis on working with children at risk), a chapter that discusses the main characteristics of these services, and a central section that discusses six models from different countries. Finally, the review presents possible courses of action derived from these models. The information in this document is presented to help policymakers improve the existing operating model.

Citing suggestion: Asulin, M., & Baruj-Kovarsky, R. (2025). Before and After-School Programs for Children: An International Literature Review. RR-035-25. Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. (Hebrew)