As a result of the shortage of suitable teachers, some schools are giving up on opening a 5-unit math study program. In light of this, the Ministry of Education, colleges and universities are making great efforts to attract quality candidates for mathematics teaching training programs. These programs, including graduate programs and graduate programs, succeed in attracting excellent candidates, but their dropout rate during the first years as teachers is not lower than the dropout rate of regular program graduates.
When new teachers are asked about the reasons for the high dropout rate, they claim that their training program did not equip them with the practical skills required for teaching and was far removed from day-to-day life in the classroom. The graduates of the conversion programs claim that schools do not absorb them properly and do not give them the support they need to integrate with the veteran teaching staff. Many teachers who face discipline problems and heterogeneous classrooms, question their ability to cope with the situation in the classroom and eventually choose to give up teaching.
Oranim College of Education recognized the importance of practical training and the successful absorption of teachers in schools, and to that end formulated a new training program. The program will be designed for outstanding academics who will be selected for the program in a competitive selection process and will be trained to serve as mathematics teachers in the upper division at the level of five units. The program will operate on the model of a Teacher Residency Program, similar to the new Delta Program at Lewinsky College of Education, and based on the model of similar programs in many U.S. cities.
Oranim College of Education in the north of the country was founded in 1951 by the kibbutzim movement and is considered one of the oldest and largest colleges in Israel. Today, the college trains over 5,000 high school and elementary school teachers, and offers a variety of degrees and curricula in education, social sciences and humanities, science teaching and math. About three years ago, the college began offering the M.Teach program and other programs that offer conversion of academics to a teaching career.
The new training program for mathematics teachers at Oranim College will take place at the Real School in Haifa, and will later be extended to other schools. During school hours, students will observe school teachers while teaching, experience teaching students in person, in small groups and in the entire classroom and receive feedback from teachers. In the afternoon there will be pedagogical and didactic courses and workshops, which will be linked to events that took place in the classroom in the morning. Participants will be supervised by a pedagogical tutor from the college, and will be mentored by an experienced teacher from the school. At the end of the training, the teachers will receive guidance and support as they teach in the school for an additional two years.
In the 2004-2008 school year, the first class will begin with eight students, who will be integrated into the high school in Haifa, where more than 30% of the students approach matriculation at a level of five units. The school will be coordinated by Dr. Hamutal David, coordinator The final nominees for the Trump Award for Quality Teaching for 2012. She will serve as a clinical teacher educator and combine academic courses with hands-on experience.The program will be expanded to more schools, and after five years it plans to train about 50 new math teachers.
