The Views Program at the Technion: Relieving Israel`s Shortage of Chemistry Teachers

Over the last decade, Israel has witnessed a declining trend in choosing chemistry as a major and a career, along with a parallel shortage of certified chemistry teachers. Choosing a teaching career is associated with one’s sense of identity as a teacher. Over the past two decades, Technion has been preparing the largest number of chemistry teachers in the country. During the last three years, this number has increased even more thanks to the Views program, which enables Technion graduates to return to the Technion to study toward an additional degree at the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology and be certified to become a science, technology, engineering or mathematics teacher. The Views program, which provides students with free tuition via the President scholarship, differs from traditional teacher training programs in students’ demographics and their personal characteristics. We investigate the process of integrating about 60 novice chemistry teachers, who are Views graduates, into the national school system. Applying a mixed method approach, the study includes qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. Preliminary results showed that Views graduates are highly motivated to become excellent teachers and prefer to integrate disciplinary teaching with leadership roles. Our study aims at contributing to the understanding of chemistry teachers` professional growth in Israel and reducing the attrition of the novice teachers. Its theoretical contribution is the characterization of the differences in the professional identity between graduates of the Views program and the traditional program. From a practical standpoint, the study contributes to establishing guidelines for improving teacher preparation programs that are envisioned to enhance integration and retention of novice chemistry teachers within the school system.