Professional Development for In-Service Teachers | METC
The newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include Goal 4 on Education, which announced World Leaders’ commitment to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and [to] promote life-long learning opportunities for all”. Clearly, as far as education is concerned, the global focus is shifting from access to education towards establishing a multidimensional notion of quality education for all.
These circumstances demand that the educational system must continually seek ways to keep up to date with current trends and methods in order to ensure that it meets pupil needs
Over the past 25 years, criticism of teachers and teacher education has intensified in many countries around the world. Focusing on the importance of ongoing professional development research suggests that for teachers to successfully change their practices in ways that lead to meaningful change in student outcomes, teachers need time, opportunities to practice, feedback, and institutional support
Motivated by a desire to enhance the knowledge and skills of teachers on the one hand and improve student achievement and scores on the other, the Israeli education system is currently seeking to decentralize, modernize, upgrade, and raise the quality of the teaching/learning system in the light of global and regional changes. Within this context, teachers are encouraged to view themselves as facing new challenges—with the help of innovative forms of in-service training.
2003 saw the introduction of one of the major aspects of this program—the establishment of “PISGA” centers designed to provide instruction for practicing teachers, “PISGA” in Hebrew meaning “mountain top” or “peak”. The course offered by the Ofri International Training Center in this regard presents an integrated program for primary and secondary schools teachers. With the aim of developing knowledge, introducing new practical ideas, and garnering experience, it is based on professional growth, hands-on experience, and exposure to materials and methodological tools, combined with reflection on the learning experience process
In these days in which students are called “New Millennium Learners” and are exposed to a different and challenging environment, the Educational System must perceive the Professional Development of their Teachers as the main field in which to invest.
Aims
*To promote professional development teaching in such a way as to prepare personnel for the future in a systematic yet flexible manner
*To train future-oriented pre-service and in-service teaching staff to meet the needs of the urban education environment 5, 10, and 20 years down the road
*To transform the Teaching Development Center into a proactive, innovation-based organization
*To facilitate progressive thinking, leading to educational breakthroughs
*To prototype, develop, and implement new teaching paradigms, methods, and tools
*To create a lively, warm, and stimulating professional home for teaching staff
*To provide space, context, process, and incentive for an ongoing community-wide conversation concerning education in general and teaching-staff development in particular
*To encourage relevant stakeholders—including teachers, parents, the business sector, senior citizens, artists, municipal officeholders, and children themselves—to play an active role in creating a better education system
Main Subjects
*Presentation of diverse forms of in-service training and methods of adaptation to changes occurring in the education system
*Exposition of the latest concepts, methods, and tools in educational-staff training
*Analysis of different modules for in-service teacher training and defined training goals
*Training facilitators to support teachers in the field
*Curriculum design based on developmentally-appropriate practices
*Design of integrative teaching/learning units
*Elaboration on additional resources for self-development and enrichment
*Examination of the educator’s role as a school leader, including discussions regarding teamwork and formulation of school visions
*Exercises for motivating and empowering teachers: self-reliance, self-learning, and self-evaluation
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