Teacher Training Program For New Mathematics & Physics Teacher

Within a month since social distancing measures have been imposed in Israel over one million citizens, constituting 25% of the workforce, are currently unemployed. Some of them are graduates of higher education institutions, with academic degrees in science or engineering. The current estimates of economists are that many of the new unemployed academics will struggle to find a job once the labor market is gradually recuperated from its current shock.

In a recent consultation between the Ministries of Education and Employment, they analyzed the data and designed a scheme to recruit and train new teachers from among the new unemployed academics group. Their plan is to create a series of intensive training programs for suitable candidates, preparing them to fill teaching positions in schools in a variety of understaffed subject-areas and grade levels. In this framework, they approached the foundation in order to seek our support for the areas of mathematics and physics.

We consequently turned to Beit Berl College, a veteran partner of the foundation. Beit Berl were among the first teaching colleges in Israel to develop a teacher residency program for career changers from high tech and the army to the teaching of mathematics and physics. In recent years, their residency training programs have become very attractive and are considered highly successful.

Beit Berl is proposing an immersive training program for 75 new teachers from the new pool of candidates, of which 50 will be trained in mathematics and 25 in physics. The program will be designed by using a hybrid of online training and classroom based practice. It will start during May 2020, with an intensive program that will be delivered online. The content will include specifications on how to teach online and utilize flipped classroom and personalized learning methodologies.

At the opening of the school year, the student teachers will join online classes, and observe veteran teachers who teach by means of distance learning. Gradually, they will practice teaching and receive feedback from a pedagogic coach. They will also participate in a learning community with their peers and coaches, in which they will share their experiences and dilemmas, and collaborate to improve their practice.

The candidates will be selected in a rigorous process, which will strive to ensure that only the most talented and motivated will enter the program. The Ministry of Education will provide them with scholarships and loans in return for a commitment of at least one year of teaching, and will also cover their training tuition fees and help them to find a teaching position. The plan is for them to start teaching during the coming school year, via distance learning and in regular classrooms, once schools reopen.

* The text presented above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation Board / Grant 394