From Hi-Tech to Hi-School: Integrating Ex-High-Tech Workers Into the High School Educational System

• In Event: Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Dynamic Strategies for Technology in Teacher Education

Abstract

Responding to a decline in the number of science and mathematics teachers, the Ministry of Education in Israel recruited ex-high tech workers and academics into the teaching profession. They were trained in an accelerated, government financed, nine-month course. To date, of 300 new science teachers trained, only 150 have remained in the field. This study follows the training and integration of a group of 12 students, who participated in this program, leaving their careers in high-tech to become high-school mathematics teachers. This report examines the qualities that this particular population bring to the teaching community. It then examines the challenges currently facing their successful integration, steps to facilitate this and to encourage them, once in the system, to stay there.

Authors

• Einav Aizikovitsh-Udi, Beit Berl Academic College

• Jon R. Star, Harvard University