Grant Amount
NIS 1,950,000
Clinical training for outstanding trainees in mathematics and physics
Teacher Residency Program for 70 New Teachers of Advanced-level Mathematics and Physics to Establish New Classes in Secondary Schools
Teacher Residency Program for 70 New Teachers of Advanced-level Mathematics and Physics to Establish New Classes in Secondary Schools
In recent years there is a growing shortage of teachers of mathematics and physics in secondary schools. This shortage is mainly due to the retirement of veteran teachers, particularly of teachers who immigrated to Israel from the FSU during the 1990s. This deficiency has led to an inability of many schools to maintain their five-unit matriculation tracks for physics and mathematics. There is therefore a national need to train, place in schools, and mentor a new generation of excellent teachers of these subjects.
To address this need, over the past 18 months, the foundation has helped to seed a network of Teacher Residency programs, which provide competitive teacher-training tracks for outstanding university graduates. Teacher Residency programs are taught in schools, their content is focused on students thinking and learning, based on practical experience, and is closely guided by expert teachers who tutor the students. Teachers in the programs are making extensive use of observation, video, and feedback.
The Kibbutzim College has now developed its own teacher residency program, comprised of one year of in-school training, followed by school placement and mentoring over two years. An innovative component of the proposed program is the placement of small teams of 2-3 teachers and their instructional coaches in schools in order to establish and develop five-unit level mathematics and physics tracks where there are none. Schools will be chosen in cooperation with the chief supervisor of mathematics and physics and the head of Secondary Education at the Education Ministry.
The Kibbutzim College of Education Technology and the Arts was established in 1939 and is the largest education college in Israel today, with approximately 6,000 students, including more from 1000 enrolled in different teacher-training programs for career-changers. This program would be directed by Dr. Ruthi Barkai, head of the mathematics faculty, and the management team will include Dr. Ilana Avisar – Dean of the Science Faculty, as well as Dr. Roni Mualem and Dr. Dina Lavi Schvartz.
The program proposes to recruit five cohorts of 24 students, training up to 120 in total and establishing between 30- 40 new classes of advanced mathematics and physics in the neediest schools in Israel. In their training year, student-teachers will spend one day per week in a school which specializes in teaching mathematics and physics. There they will observe expert school teachers and gain teaching experience, guided by an instructional coach and veteran teaching staff from the school. Selected lessons will be filmed and then analyzed with a clinical focus on student thinking and learning.