Professional development of science high school teachers in Israel

Abstract

Becoming an effective science teacher is a continuous process that stretches from pre-service experiences in undergraduate years to the end of a professional career. Science has a rapidly changing knowledge base, and long-term, continuous professional development (CPD) is essential for school science teaching to become more meaningful, more inquiry-based, more educationally effective, and better aligned with the twenty-first century science and its related socio-scientific issues. Therefore, accomplished teaching of science can be defined in terms of the knowledge that teachers use in their teaching. Any sustainable change of substantial character asks for long-term strategies including the connection towards practical experiences and multiple exchanges between practitioners and researchers in the specific educational domain. The implementation of new content and pedagogical standards in science education in Israel as well as in other countries necessitates intensive, life-long, professional development of science teachers. In the following chapter, we will describe four models that were developed in Israel: (1) leadership workshops for teachers, (2) action research, (3) evidence-based professional development, and (4) teachers as curriculum developers.