The Future of Education

The educational system in general and teachers specifically, have been undergoing many changes over the years. The system is dynamic and unstable, suffering from phenomena such as teacher turnover, the need to absorb new teachers, overburdened teachers juggling with many classes each year, etc. In order to develop significant teaching, the educational system must offer more effective professional development methods than those existing today—ones that can upgrade teaching methods and improve learners’ achievements.

The purposes of the research were:
1) to clarify and represent the contribution of the pedagogic processes to teachers’ professional development, and
2) to examine and characterize which trends are reflected through science teachers’ pedagogical and teaching processes over four years.

A four-year longitudinal study examined Science for All teachers’ work quality, as expressed in their students portfolios. The Science for All program is appointed to high-school students who are not majoring in sciences studies. The results describe the teachers’ teaching and pedagogical processes. Most indices show that the teachers’ teaching and pedagogical processes were improved. The parameters that evaluated in teaching processes were: integration of scientific ideas in assignments and expression of individual thinking by students. The parameters that evaluated in pedagogical processes were teacher–student dialogue, evaluation characteristics and assignment diversity. Alongside these findings there are qualitative findings. Teachers developed unique initiatives that reflected through the pedagogy and didactics they implemented in the teaching–learning–evaluation processes.

On the basis of this experience, a model was developed, representing the ranked professional development of the science teachers based on integrating the portfolio in the ongoing learning process.