Clinical training for teaching mathematics

There is a serious shortage of science and mathematics teachers in Israeli high schools, as a result of the imminent retirement of many teachers. Even in mathematics, an obligatory matriculation subject, many schools are still compelled to employ teachers who are not adequately qualified. Moreover, approximately 40% of the teaching students who apply to train as mathematics and science teachers do not ultimately join the teaching force, and of those who do become teachers, about half leave the profession during the first five years of teaching. These teachers say that the training they received was too theoretical, and did not prepare them for teaching in the classroom and school life; and that they did not receive adequate guidance or support as a new teacher.

Around a year ago, the foundation decided to follow in the footsteps of highly successful education systems, and support a new type of teacher training program, called Teacher Residency, which provides competitive tracks for outstanding university graduates. Teacher Residency programs are taught in schools, their content is based on practical experience, and is closely guided by expert teachers who tutor the students. These programs made ​​extensive use of observation, video, and feedback. With the foundation’s support, two programs were opened this academic year in partnership with ‘hosting’ schools, at Levinsky College in Tel Aviv and at Oranim College in the north of Israel.

A third Teacher Residency program is currently proposed by Beit Berl College, an academic college located in Kfar Saba. Beit Berl College has approximately 10,000 students currently enrolled, a tenth of whom are graduates studying in different courses to re-train as teachers. In some of its training frameworks, Bet Berl implements a well-known model called Professional Development Schools (PDS), a training program which is based on collaboration with schools.  Based on this experience, the Foundation approached the College in order to examine the possibility of transferring more responsibility to schools by forming a school-based clinical Teacher Residency Program.

The proposed program aims to train three cohorts of new mathematics teachers of the advanced high school tracks. In each cohort, 25-30 graduates of the exact sciences or engineering will be trained to be teachers. Candidates will be selected via a competitive process, including a preparatory summer semester to ensure all trainee teachers have mastered the mathematical knowledge of the five-unit content needed for entering the classroom.

In the first year, trainee teachers will attend two day per week of studies in the schools, which will be comprised of lesson observation and analysis by expert teachers, teaching small groups of students and whole classes, pedagogical coaching by an accompanying teacher, team work with the school mathematics teaching staff, simulations, video recordings (with the help of the Weizmann Institute) and experimentation with project-based learning. In the second and third years of the program, once the participants are already teaching, they will undergo internship workshops and individual and group guidance.

It is expected that the program will result in 80 outstanding new mathematics teachers specializing in advanced levels for upper secondary schools for both the Jewish and Arab schools.