Section archive - Professional Development

MOFET International invites you to attend this free course which will help you create your own online museum to share with your students, colleagues and acquaintances. Museums are the repository of our cultural heritage and thus should become destinations to explore and learn scientific, historic and artistic themes. Students can feel and sense valuable artefacts and handmade objects that shape their lives. The main question is: How do we encourage our visitors to satisfy their curiosity in the museum? Experimental methods and their didactics are the core of this online course. We will see how all museums and heritage sites can be used as places of learning with the UNESCO Best Mobile Practice innovative technology – the Wandering Platform. The free course will begin on April 5 and will include seven synchronized meetings that will take place via the ZOOM™ platform. Notice: This is not a MOOC. As so, the number of participants is limited so hurry and sign up! Free registration ends on 02.04.2020.

This study explored the development of preservice special education teachers’ self-efficacy for classroom and behaviour management as they progressed through a four-semester professional development sequence. Findings indicated that although self-efficacy levels were variable across semesters, statistically significant changes in group self-efficacy levels were noted when compared to beginning levels. Despite noted increases in self-efficacy levels, participants continued to express a need for training in evidence-based practices and strategies for addressing extreme behaviours. Implications and limitations are discussed.

The study aimed to identify teachers’ motivations to study Master of Education (M.Ed.) programs offered by teachers’ training colleges. M.Ed. degree programs have become available in Israel since 2004, with a rapid increase since then in the number of colleges offering various programs and a consequent increase in the number of graduates. M.Ed. degrees follow one of two teaching approaches: (1) top-down/transmission of knowledge (2) bottom-up transformative studies to support teachers’ professional autonomy. The study’s methodology included examining data from multiple sources: documentation concerning the academic programs, government policy statements, and surveys administered to teachers who had graduated successfully from M.Ed. programs over the past decade and are now working in the field. The authors found that after the first decade of M.Ed. courses in Israel, significantly more programs incline towards the bottom-up/transformative approach, aiming to promote individual, personal and professional development instead of adopting the transmission approach. Teachers prefer M.Ed. programs at universities that include research. Yet their motivation to study is primarily intrinsic motivation, whether they aspire to study at universities or at teachers’ training colleges. Results are pertinent for government planning of teachers’ professional development. Further study into the needs of teachers is required to endorse these conclusions.

Despite the increased focus on why new special education teachers leave the field, the knowledge related to teacher attrition in special education is still somewhat limited when compared with the field of general education. In this study, the authors conduct several Nominal Group Technique (NGT) focus groups to learn more about the perceived needs of new special education teachers. Focus groups are held with three specific groups, preservice special education teachers, new special education teachers, and school administrators to further investigate the potential differences in perceptions about the needs and roles of new special education teachers.