Faculty of Education

• About 400 faculty members, including:
  • Expert practitioners who teach or hold other positions in the Israeli educational system.
  • Researchers who specialize in the fields of education and pedagogy as well as in the teaching of various disciplines.
• 4,000 students
• The Arab Academic Institute of Education for Arab educators

Our teaching staff places emphasis on the following values:

• Academic excellence – high quality initial teacher education (ITE) in pedagogy as well as subject matters.
• Rigorous field work and clinical skills – our graduates know, not only how to convey a lesson plan; they know how to teach a child and lead groups of learners; how to create a class environment that supports learning and enhances social values; and how to work within a school and a community.
• Innovation – providing the latest educational technologies, developing programs and clinical models that respond to community needs – in formal and informal education.
• Educators as social leaders – through their own community involvement, workshops and personal empowerment, our students learn to educate a new generation of active citizens.
• Life-long learning – continuous professional development of educators throughout their professional career.

The Faculty of Education offers the following programs:
Undergraduate degree programs in education (B.Ed.):

• Early childhood education
• Elementary education
• Secondary education
• Special education
• Special education in early childhood
• English for elementary and secondary schools

The programs enable students to specialize in a broad range of disciplines: humanities, social studies and civics, mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, environmental and agriculture studies, history, literature, geography, Israel studies, Bible studies, Israeli society and culture, as well as languages: Hebrew, Arabic and English.

In addition, Beit Berl College offers two distinctive B.Ed. programs to train professionals to work in community-based education outside the formal education system. These programs include:

• Informal education, training graduates for educational work in community settings – within municipalities, community centers, leading youth movements, including a distinctive undergraduate degree program for the staff of boarding schools who work with challenged youth.
• Youth development, training graduates to work with youth at risk in various frameworks.

Beit Berl College offers a range of post-graduate programs:

• M.Ed. (Masters in Education):
  • Advancing youth at risk
  • Arab culture and education
  • Art education
  • Curriculum planning and evaluation
  • Educational administration
  • Educational counseling
  • Language instruction (Arabic, Hebrew, English)
  • Learning disabilities
• M.Teach (Master of Teaching):
  • Elementary education
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Secondary education
• M.A.A.T (Master of Arts in Art Therapy)
• Teaching Certificate program – certification for holders of a degree
• Continuing education for teachers and professional development programs in all fields of education are available through the Keshet Center.

The Faculty of Education offers a number of special programs that take into consideration the needs, interests and circumstances of various student populations, as well as meeting specific educational challenges in Israeli society. These include:

• The Martin Buber Beit-Midrash for Dialogue-Education – the program prepares hundreds of community activists, living in development towns and Arab villages in Israel’s periphery, for work with young people in formal and informal education.
• Tsevet – prepares veteran officers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and other security services, who have academic degrees, for second careers as teachers and educational leaders.
• Center for Education for Ultra-Orthodox Students – this unique program provides professional development to the teachers and other educational personnel of the Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) school systems, in order to help the growing Haredi population interact and work in Israel.
• Mathematics Education –a prestigious program that trains expert advanced mathematics teachers for Jewish and Arab high schools throughout the country. The program aims to boost math achievement levels of high school students – particularly young women, and those in periphery communities.

• Professional Development School (PDS) – staying in touch with the field

  The Faculty of Education maintains close ties with the field, through its Professional Development School (PDS) network. Using a model designed at Beit Berl College, 236 participating Arab and Jewish schools work with the College’s Faculty of Education to raise their level of teaching and curriculum development, and to facilitate hands-on supervision of the student-teachers in the field.