Abstract
The research presented in this chapter examines Research–Practice Partnerships (RPPs) in Israeli Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. We performed a SWOT analysis, where we categorized factors into Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats on data collected before, during, and after a conference that was devised to examine the state of STEM RPPs in Israel. The overall data analysis revealed the following theme: Studies in STEM education focus on what goes on in the schools and the need for RPPs. Yet, RPPs face obstacles rooted in the organizational structure and culture of the two RPP partners: the Research—Academia in Israel; and the Practice—Ministry of Education (MoE). Therefore, while both the education system and academia agree on the necessity to collaborate, these collaborations are not fully actualized, and RPPs in STEM education in Israel do not invest in the most critical problems, the investigation of which is crucial for the economic growth and development of the state of Israel. The SWOT analysis presented in this chapter, which is based on data gathered from representatives of all STEM education sectors, enabled us to deepen our understanding of how this situation can be improved: specifically, (1) leveraging the multiple activities in STEM education that exist in Israel, which was identified as the most meaningful strength; (2) bridging the cultural gap between academia and the educational system, identified as the most meaningful weakness; (3) capitalizing on the increased attention and importance attributed to STEM education in the country, identified as the most meaningful opportunity; (4) overcoming the frequent policy changes that take place in the MoE due to political forces in Israel, which are beyond the control of the educational system, identified as the most meaningful threat; (5) we also found that academia is perceived as the stakeholder responsible for promoting RPPs in STEM education in Israel.
Orit Hazzan, Einat Heyd-Metzuyanim & Yehudit Judy Dori
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Notes
- 1.
The third author was a member of the CHE committee.
- 2.
The Technion—Israel Institute of Technology—Committee for Ethics in Social Sciences—approved the research.
- 3.
The post-conference survey is in Hebrew.
- 4.
In qualitative research, this activity would have been called credibility, which is the associate term to internal validity used in quantitative research. The credibility criteria are said to insure that the results of qualitative research are credible from the perspective of the research participants. However, we decided to use the term validation survey for two reasons: First, it is the more common term which reflects our intention; second, this phase mixed both qualitative and quantitative methods.
- 5.
In Hebrew.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
See http://yold.mpage.co.il/english/homepage.aspx. The Initiative for Applied Education Research was established in 2003 as a joint venture of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Israel MoE, and Yad Hanadiv. The initiative sets up expert committees and convenes symposia for researchers, education professionals, and decision-makers. It publishes reports of its work and makes them readily available to the public, which means that they have the potential to be read by teachers and principals and to be applied.
- 9.
Business Dictionary. http://www.businessdictionary.com/.
- 10.
It should be mentioned that several people at the MoE were approached a few months before the conference and were asked to participate, yet their calendars did not permit it.
- 11.
The authors of this paper express some reservations about some of the more absolutist statements of this report.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
The submission guidelines for a request for data collections in schools are presented here (in Hebrew): http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Applications/Mankal/EtsMedorim/3/3-9/HoraotKeva/K-2015-9-2-3-9-4.htm.
- 15.
The Knesset is Israel’s parliament.
- 16.
See CEO notice 3.9-4 from the Ministry of Education at http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Applications/Mankal/EtsMedorim/3/3-9/HoraotKeva/K-2015-9-2-3-9-4.htm.
- 17.
See, for example, the Technion’s committees: http://manlam.net.technion.ac.il/en/ethics_committees/.
- 18.
In fact, our faculty treated this evaluation process as an opportunity to upgrade its status from a department to a faculty—with an equal status to all other Technion’s academic units. In addition, at our faculty, a major reform in the structure of basic undergraduate studies in education has been started recently based on the feedback we received in the evaluation report. Specifically, we modified the basic mandatory courses which were mostly in the domain of theory and psychology, to courses that are much more ingrained in school life and in current theories of learning. We hope that this change will foster also RPPs.
- 19.
This regulation was not discussed broadly in the workshop. However, once it was mentioned by one of the participants, we delved into its details and realized that it might have a crucial role as a factor that prevents the execution of RPPs related to activities carried out in STEM education in Israel.
- 20.
Source: https://www.mr.gov.il/Information/Training%20materials/Mandatory%20Tenders%20Regulations.pdf, http://www.economy.gov.il/English/InternationalAffairs/IndustrialCooperationAuthority/Pages/MandatoryTendersRegulations.aspx.
Specifically, as it turns out, though quality is highly sought, the law indicates that price plays a role:
(2) Following the opening of the tender box, the tender committee shall, according to the Mandatory Tenders Regulations, 5753-1993 Complete up-to-date version 27, determine the final group of bidders and the quality score for each bidder.
(3) The price bids shall be opened only after the tender committee has determined the quality score. Following the opening of the price bids, the tender committee shall determine a final score for the bids that weights the quality score determined as provided in paragraph (2) with the score based on the price.
- 21.
As mentioned in the Weaknesses section, the current structure of the teaching position does not encourage teachers to commit to professional development programs. However, at the same time, professional development programs were identified as a meaningful communication channels between the academia and the education system. Therefore, it is proposed to redesign them in a meaningful way for the promotion of RPPs within the redesign of the teaching position.
- 22.
The New Horizon reform promotes teacher professionalism by defining levels of expertise. One of the highest levels (Level 8) is Teacher-Researchers. Teachers who are promoted to this rank are expected to integrate research in their work in order to improve their teaching processes. This reform provides suitable opportunities for the promotion of RPPs since: a) teachers who are promoted to this rank get salary increase and b) professional development programs are funded to let teachers gain the needed research skills.
- 23.
The Academia-Classroom reform attempts to foster the connections between the teacher training programs, which usually take place in the academia, and the school system. This is done by teaching several courses of the teacher preparation programs in the schools and the integration of the pre-service teachers in actual teaching processes in the classrooms. This structure naturally provides many opportunities for RPPs since the academic people, who teach the courses, visit the schools as part of their teaching, and interact on a weekly with the new teachers and their mentors.
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Acknowledgements
This work was partially supported by Heyd-Metzuyanim’s Spencer Small Grant number 201500080.
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Hazzan, O., Heyd-Metzuyanim, E., Even-Zahav, A., Tal, T., Dori, Y.J. (2018). Research–Practice Partnerships in STEM Education: An Organizational Perspective. In: Application of Management Theories for STEM Education. SpringerBriefs in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68950-0_3
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