The goal: to enable engineers to teach real subjects in classrooms, to strengthen the education system that lacks teachers for the real subjects and as an extension of the "Think Positive" project initiated by Intel a few years ago ● The CEO of Intel Israel, Maxine Fassberg, will present the full project at the Ra'anana conference for the national high-tech policy, which will be held tomorrow (Tuesday)
Yehuda Conforts, editor in the People and Computers group
About 25 Intel engineers from the company's development center in Petach Tikva will begin next year to undergo a special training course at Hadassah College in Jerusalem, at the end of which they will receive a teaching license for science subjects from the Ministry of Education. The joint venture between Hadassah College and the Ministry of Education is part of a unique community project called "Positive Thinkers" initiated by Intel several years ago.
Also as part of the project, during the year about 50 middle school and Petach-Tikva high school students will come once or twice a week to the Intel development center in the city's industrial area, and will receive assistance and reinforcement of study materials. Each student will be assigned two permanent engineers who will back each other up. Intel assigns for this purpose 27 engineers and other employees, who accompany the children throughout the year and are in contact with the teachers and schools. The project, which was very successful, is also implemented in other cities, and has also been adopted by other high-tech companies in the industrial areas of Petah Tikva, Jerusalem and Haifa.
According to Yossi Shovel, Intel Israel's director of foreign relations, Intel is now being asked to expand the circle of contributions to the education system, and to initiate, together with the Ministry of Education, Hadassah College and other parties, training courses that will allow engineers to teach larger groups of students in schools, in coordination with Ministry of Education inspectors , school principals and as needed. It should be noted that this is the first time that the Ministry of Education allows hi-tech companies to enter classrooms in the education system.
As for the subjects of study, Shovel explains, the engineers are mainly engaged in teaching real subjects, such as mathematics, physics, computers and English, in a variety of study units, with an aspiration of five units.
Worrying about the future
The project was presented this week to the steering committee of the Ra'anana Conference for the National Hi-Tech Policy by Danny Elder, CEO of Intel Petah Tikva, and it was decided that the expanded project of "Thinking Positively" will be presented at the conference itself on Tuesday, June 24, 2008. During the event, you will read CEO "To Intel Israel, Maxine Fassberg, to all her colleagues from the industry to replicate the model in order to help the industry train dedicated personnel, who in the future will join the high-tech industry.
Shovel adds that behind the project "thinking positive" was the concept that beyond the difficult situation of the education system that everyone is talking about, there are many simple and immediate things that the industry, the community and each of us can do, with little effort and without waiting for assistance and funding from the authorities and the government.
The project was conducted at the same time as the school year, between the months of November and June. In each of the places where it is held, the project is adapted to the students' study hours and the tutors' time. The apprenticeship is done in small groups, while the students feel they belong to the place, absorbing the atmosphere of an Intel development center or any other factory, and according to Shovel there is no doubt that this will contribute to their decision in the future to integrate into this industry.
According to Shovel, the project has gained unusual momentum and success and it integrates with a long list of other activities that Intel does in the field of education in Israel. "Over the years, we gained experience - and so we created a sort of orderly protocol, which describes all the procedures and moves that must be carried out when embarking on such a project. For example: who are the authorities in the authority with whom you should be in contact, how do you prepare the employees for the matter, what are you doing in terms of logistics, transportation, continuous contact with the teachers and the school, and more. We have no copyright on this information, and we make it available to the entire industry. That way, any company that wants to replicate it will receive full assistance from our team."
11 תגובות
Joseph:
To be sure I'm not speaking in a blank, I called a friend from Intel before I started writing this comment.
He told me that this is an activity carried out during working hours and that the engineers receive a global salary and not by the hour.
What it means?
That means Intel is funding.
So it's not in Alma.
This is part of an extensive activity carried out by Intel for the benefit of the community.
That friend of mine, for example, who is a senior figure at Intel, although he was not teaching in schools during working hours, but he did go out during working hours to paint walls in nursing homes.
Friends: When someone finally does something good here, I don't think it will detract from anyone's dignity if they praise it.
I'm afraid you're talking a little in slang. The engineers from Intel do it voluntarily (encouraged by the company), and Intel for its part donates (money) for every volunteer hour of an engineer from Intel. Already today there are quite a lot of engineers at Intel who educate children in the upper divisions in subjects such as physics and mathematics on a voluntary basis, so this program is probably simply an upgrade
Hanan:
I don't know which teachers you worked with and there are certainly exceptions but I have been following the education system for many years and what I said is what I see.
Most of the outstanding people I met throughout my life (actually all of them!) turned to more lucrative professions and only the ones who failed went into teaching. This is a fact and I hear of a similar experience from many others.
The explanation also makes sense - and why would someone decide to settle for such poor working conditions?
By the way - after many excuses and going round and round - you also said at the end that those who are in the education system today are the worst of the bunch.
Regarding the source of the initiative, I, unlike you, have no doubt that the initiative is Intel's and there are also two decisive reasons behind this statement:
One is that it started as a local initiative without the participation of the Ministry of Education and only now has the Ministry of Education entered the picture.
The second is that the Ministry of Education has no ability to decide what Intel engineers will do that it does not pay their wages.
Michael, I do not agree with the claim you made. I had the pleasure of working with several teachers in the past, some of whom had advanced degrees and most of whom returned to high-tech, sometimes after decades of teaching.
Waves of dismissals made in recent years of high-quality teachers, and despite this the retention of their teachers who have tenure (and they are the ones usually mediocre or below), drove many teachers back to the job market and to hi-tech.
You'd be surprised, Michael, how many teachers there are who have more extensive knowledge of the subjects and the method of study than an engineer from Intel, whose honor is in his place, but who obviously does not know the requirements of the system and the curricula.
Unfortunately, the smell of politics (as Danny pointed out) arises from such ventures, and I would not be surprised if the Ministry of Education itself initiated the idea and not Intel. It seems more likely to me that the Ministry of Education, instead of allocating more hours for studies and allocating more to bring in better quality teachers and teacher training, chose this populist method, in order to create a false magic in the eyes of the public, who thinks that salvation will come from Intel and the problems will be solved.
The whole business just looks like an experimental gimmick whose goals are political and not like a sincere and genuine attempt to help the students.
Hanan
http://WWW.EURA.ORG.IL
Nothing will happen if the engineers work for the salary of the Ministry of Education or volunteer.
It can hold water for a short time as a political use - we are Zionists and so on which suits Intel.
Raising the level of teachers should come from the root - recruiting engineers to the education system who are over 50 years old with a relatively high salary that will pay off for them to enter the system - then we will get a stable and progressive long-term education system that will give us a higher level of teachers.
What Intel is doing looks bad - very political.
Hanan:
I do not agree with you.
After all, most of the problem is that the teachers are those who were chosen by the natural selection of the low salary - that is, those who could not integrate into more lucrative professions.
A tiny minority of them can even reach the level of Intel engineers.
It should be remembered that the project is intended to benefit the students and not the teachers and in my opinion Intel is doing something important and useful here.
I also assume that the teachers, as evidenced by your words, may stick a stick in the wheels of the project.
Michael - this is not cynicism.
Since I am deep in this system, known as the "Ministry of Education", I am amazed at these initiatives. If indeed those engineers are employed in schools, I am XNUMX percent sure that they do not receive the conditions that full-time teachers receive. That's what I'm complaining about and that's what bothers me personally.
There is no situation in the world that an engineer would invest his time without adequate compensation. It comes at the expense of the teachers and on their backs. Instead of encouraging the public of teachers to undergo further training and professional development, external factors are brought in, and with their help they try to show how great the shortage of teachers is and to show how much the system is hurting teachers. And certainly there are no teachers - under the conditions today, there are almost no people who would be willing to go and dedicate themselves to teaching.
God forbid, new teachers are not being recruited into the system. Teachers are not given tenure or conditions that are accepted throughout the economy, they do not provide high-tech training for teachers, they do not reduce classes. The miracle solution lies in bringing people from the industry and putting them into the system.
And again, lest it be seen that I am overly protective of the teaching community. There are worn out teachers who have long been out of the system and there are teachers (mainly in the elementary system) whose professional level is beyond criticism. Nevertheless I complain.
Why won't Intel, for example, finance further training for teachers or finance part of the salary of every new teacher? Why won't Intel hire employees and give them tenure, instead of the revolving door method used there today (especially with engineers)? Why won't Intel finance teaching studies for those who will learn the hi-tech professions?
and N.B. - The small number of volunteers assigned to the matter, in addition to the method of bringing the students to the Intel centers, only proves that this is a gimmick. If it was a real project, then Intel could have recruited hundreds of engineers and sent them to the classrooms.
I wonder what "future integration of the students" Intel is discussing, while we hear again about a recession that is approaching in the high-tech industry by giant steps and the possibility of a renewed collapse of the "balloon" and waves of layoffs.
It would have been better if Intel had invested in its employees or invested in teachers, instead of giving subsidized tutoring - and that's exactly what we did here.
Hanan
http://WWW.EURA.ORG.IL
Hanan:
Read again - according to the description, it has been working successfully for some time in several places and they are currently planning a major expansion with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education.
I understand this as an Intel initiative that does not intend to ask for money from anyone and will continue to pay the salaries of the engineers itself.
Where does all this cynicism come from?
Haha.. I wouldn't be surprised if this would be a method instead of firing engineers xD.
Instead of sending unnecessary engineers home, they will be sent to teach in schools at minimum wage. There is no doubt that in this way engineers who are redundant at certain times (periods) can be put aside and called back when they are needed.
1. In order to teach in secondary schools, there is no need for a teaching certificate.
2. From my understanding of the system - if they trust the Ministry of Education to pay them salaries or the high school networks (such as Ort and Amal), then it does not seem to me that there will be a single engineer who would agree to work under these conditions - that is, on the verge of volunteering and without any conditions. They can give private lessons regardless of the schools and I don't think the monetary compensation they will offer them will be more than a joke.
3. Why don't you train the academic teachers who don't have teaching certificates and who are already in the system. Why don't the new teachers be trained in high-tech companies? Why are they trying to find a "Messiah" from the outside again? It's not serious!
4. I don't know why, but the whole thing smells very political (or financial) and not as a project that has a future or was really created with a real intention. But maybe I'll get lost.
Hanan Sabat
http://WWW.EURA.ORG.IL
Giant!
If it gains momentum there will finally be good teachers who are well compensated.