Welcome to our Pedagogical Research & Development Unit!

We work within MOFET Institute. We work in close partnership with the teachers training Administration of the Ministry of Education to advance the connection between theory and practice in pre-service teacher training.

We collaborate with teacher training academic institutions and educational institutions – schools and kindergartens – across Israel to promote research and development of clinical teaching experience models. Our goals are to provide a strong research foundation to inform national decision-making on clinical teaching practice, and to help training institutions implement new insights and tools.

Class-Academy Program

Our activity is based on Class-Academy program which applies a Professional Development School (PDS) model to the relationship between academic institutes for teacher training and pre K-12 educational institutes. It was established in December 2014, and began operating in a limited scope in the following school year. The program's main aim was to improve the quality of training, assimilation in the workplace, teaching routines and professional development processes pertaining to Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs), through founding and sustaining partnerships and mutual relationships between academic institutes and schools.

Three main challenges in the field of education are the background on which the program was conceived:

Academic institutes did not offer sufficient solutions to both the changing needs and reality of educational institutes, and the objectives of the education system.

A broadening phenomenon of new teachers leaving the system. According to a contemporary report – presented by the Knesset's Research and Information Center, and based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics – nearly a quarter of new teachers in elementary education dropped out after one year, and approximately 40% after three years.

The traditional teachers’ training system, focusing on theoretical knowledge followed by practical knowledge created in the field, caused a disconnect between theory and practice.

The importance of the clinical experience element receives a valuable expression in the new teacher training outline (Wadmany & Inbar, 2020, chapter 5). According to this outline, clinical teachers’ training seeks to integrate the components of theory, discipline and practice between the academy and the field as well as between training PSTs and the professional development of school and kindergarten teachers, thus allowing for theory to be developed by examining field case-studies.

The outline significantly expands the number of clinical hours in schools and kindergartens and lists eight objectives for the clinical practicum:

Models based on Class-Academy

These days, the main clinical experience models we work with are:

Class-Academy model: As already written, in this basic model student teachers attend a school or kindergarten twice weekly for a full school year, mentored by an academic-pedagogical guide from their college and a mentor teacher from school. This significantly expands clinical experience in training.
Class-Academy model + Integrated Courses: Combining theoretical courses with clinical practice to bridge the gap between theory learned in colleges and real-world experience. Staying at the school or kindergarten as part of the course should expand the practical experience.
Class-Academy Communities: Student teachers as well as their mentor teachers at a school together with academic-pedagogical guide form an active learning community, led by an academic guide and school representative. The community discusses issues arising from the student teachers' experience.
Academy Fellows: Intensive school-based training centres where student teachers develop teaching skills under the leadership of an in-school head mentor from the management team.
Second career teachers: A unique model to expand clinical experience tailored to the different scope and content of Second career teachers programs vs regular tracks.

We are excited to continue developing and piloting new models in partnership with academic institutions nationwide to optimally prepare the teachers of tomorrow. Feel free to contact us to learn more!