Pedagogical support for ‘Delta’ teachers

It is widely acknowledged that the first few years of teaching are the most difficult. New teachers are thrown in at the deep end, and have to adjust to the realities of the school system, classroom management,  and professional relationships, often without adequate support or regular guidance from an experienced teacher. It is not surprising; therefore, that many new teachers leave the teaching profession within a few years.

While all new teachers are entitled to receive support and guidance from a teacher mentor and from their training institution, funded by the Ministry of Education, this support is in many cases generic, without necessarily focusing on mathematics and the sciences. We believe that subject specific support is essential for mathematics and science teachers, and therefore seek to influence the existing mentoring system, with the proposed program.

To address this issue we approached the Levinsky College, which operates the ‘Delta’ teacher residency program.  Delta is a one-year training program, a pioneer of three such selective programs funded by the foundation. As the program nears the graduation of its first cohort, the college proposes to extend the support new teachers receive, and enrich it with disciplinary components for mathematics and science teaching.

Levinsky will make sure that the teacher-mentors who are assigned to ‘Delta’ graduates are mathematics and science teachers in their schools, identified as having effective mentoring skills. The teacher-mentors will go through a preparation course which will introduce them to general tutoring tools and techniques as well as with methods that are specific to their teaching subjects. The use of video and student artifacts will be key components in this course, in order to focus on student thinking and learning.

In addition, the college will open a special internship course for the new mathematics and science teachers, instead of the regular generic course which is offered to all new teachers. A weekly online workshop and a support forum will be also available to them, to help address teaching dilemmas. New teachers will also be invited to attend meetings to strengthen their esprit de corps by introducing them to alumnae from their own and other teacher-residency programs.

It is hoped that beyond the significant support this program will give to the new teachers, it will contribute to training a new cadre of 90 teacher-mentors in schools who will be better qualified to guide new teachers, helping them to persevere beyond the difficult first few years in the teaching profession.

* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 123