Recruitment, training and accompaniment of one hundred and fifty new teachers of mathematics and science in secondary schools, who will participate in a new track for mathematics and science in the 'Hotam' program
There is a growing shortage of Mathematics and Physics teachers all over Israel. Older generations are retiring, and newly qualified engineers, scientists and mathematicians have many tempting alternatives to the teaching profession. This shortage means that many schools cannot open Advanced Science tracks, nor do they have much choice when hiring a Mathematics teacher.
In 2009, a new program was initiated to address the shortage of teachers in various disciplines. Teach First Israel (TFI) is a Public-Private Joint-Venture, funded 75% by the Ministry of Education and 25% by JDC-Israel and other philanthropic foundations. The program is modeled after the highly successful programs ‘Teach for America’ in the US and ‘Teach First’ in the UK, aiming to recruit excelling university graduates to teach for at least two years in challenging schools. TFI accepted 66 participants in 2010 out of 716 applicants, 89 participants in 2011 out of 1,479 candidates and is expecting a total of 1800 applications in 2012.
The program is directed by Asaf Banner (CEO), Founder & former Director of B’Maaglei Tzedek, and Shlomit Amichai (Chair), former Director General of the Ministry of Education. Its success so far has however not been equal across the disciplines, as TFI has found it hard to attract high caliber Mathematics and Science participants to the program. Despite some recent improvement, the percentage of Mathematics and Sciences participants is still low in relation to those from other disciplines. In addition, the number of applicants who withdrew their application after being accepted to the program is higher among these candidates.
In order to address this need TFI proposes to establish a special track for Mathematics and Science teachers within the existing program. The track’s objective is to recruit and retain 150 Mathematics and Science graduates out of a total four hundred and fifty TFI participants over the next three years. The design of the track is based on lessons learned in the US and the UK and from focus groups with relevant university students conducted in recent months with support from the Trump foundation.
The proposed program will practice targeted recruitment among second year university students of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering. In addition to the incentives already offered by TFI, relevant candidates will be offered tuition scholarships for their third year of studies in exchange for their commitment to participate in the program and become teachers. Additional training will be provided to track participants, focusing on laboratory experiments, utilization of simulations and visualizations, and analysis of quantifiable data. In addition to their pre-service training, teachers will participate in professional development workshops once a month.
Participants in the Science and Mathematics track will also join a prestigious ‘club’, aimed to strengthen their sense of belonging to the group, the program and the teaching profession. The ‘club’ will meet regularly for professional development, workshops with role models, internet-based interaction and social gatherings. The track will be led by an expert teacher of Mathematics or Science with extensive experience in teaching and teacher training and a small group of expert teachers in each of the disciplines who would routinely mentor the TFI teachers.
It is hoped that this track would result not only in an increased number of Mathematics and Science TFI teachers, but it would encourage other talented people to consider teaching as a profession. TFI believes it could set a much-needed precedent within these disciplines, and provide an alternative path for those who are looking for a meaningful career.
* The text presented above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation Board / Grant 45