Information sheets for third-year students before internship

Information sheets for third-year students before the teaching internship

Internship requirements

Teaching specialization (internship) takes place during the first year of work in the education system, and it is mandatory for all graduates of various teaching certificate tracks. It is possible to incorporate the internship starting from the last year of studies toward a degree and teaching certificate, on condition that at least 80% of previous academic requirements have been completed, including requirements in fieldwork courses and first aid. Teachers holding regular jobs in the education system are exempt from internship.

Place of work during the internship year

In general, the internship is divided by age group: pre-school, elementary, secondary or middle school, and in subjects in which the interns specialized during teacher training. Each intern must find appropriate work according to his training. There is no need to procure the "referral to internship" form (this form has been canceled). Interns can contact the regional supervisors or inquire at schools directly. Interns should prepare a resume. For your convenience, below is a table of regional supervisors.

Scope of the position

An internship position must be at least 33% weekly position (or one-third time position). The employment conditions and wages of interns who are placed in an official elementary or intermediate school, or who work in preschool in communities selected to implement the New Horizon (Ofek Hadash) refrom agreement, are determined according to the terms of New Horizon agreement as follows:

New Horizon: the required internship employment is at least 12 teaching hours a week, of which 9 are in elementary school and 8 hours in secondary school. A position of fewer than 12 hours per week cannot be considered an internship.

The meaning of 33% weekly position within the framework of the New Horizon agreement: Teaching hours must consist of three types of instruction - frontal teaching, one-on-one instruction, and hours in attendance.
- Frontal teaching: The hours include teaching in front of the classroom (elementary school - 9 hours a week, secondary school - 8 hours a week).
- One-on-One Instruction: The hours are comprised of personalized instruction in a group of 1 to 5 students (elementary and secondary school - 2 hours a week).
- Hours in attendance: The hours include time dedicated to work meetings, meetings with the homeroom teacher (חונך), and participation in school staff meetings (elementary school - 1 hour a week, secondary school - 2 hours a week).

Table of position breakdown according to the New Horizon reform (Hebrew)

Contacts for job placement in preschool, elementary, and secondary school (Hebrew)

Duration of the internship

The duration of the internship is one school year. If the intern was not offered a placement for an entire academic year, a full six months of employment that year are recognized, on condition that the scope of employment required for the internship was achieved. The deadline for application for an internship involving at least six months of work is December 20th of every year. In this case, two periods of at least three months each in the course of the same year are also recognized. Aggregation of individual workdays is not recognized for the purpose of teaching internship. Similarly, teaching periods that did not take place in the same academic year are not recognized.

Intern's wages during the internship year under the New Horizon reform agreement

A. Interns who completed 80% of their academic obligations in the previous three years, can earn the salary of an intern under the reform of NIS 4,770 for a full-time position (which represents 90% of a beginning teacher's salary with a BA at level 1 and seniority 0) in the internship year.

B. Interns who have not completed 80% of academic obligations of the previous three years, in the internship year will earn the salary of a non-certified teacher under the reform, NIS 3,152.28 for a full-time position.

C. Interns whose internship takes place in the year after completion of the bachelor's degree and teaching certificate studies, as well as graduates of the excellence track (who complete their studies in a special three-year program), are eligible to receive a B.A. level salary of NIS 5,330 for a full-time position, under the following conditions:

The interns must provide proof of eligibility for an academic degree and a teaching certificate and will continue receiving these wages until the end of the year.
Interns who cannot provide a proof of eligibility for an academic degree and a teaching certificate, will receive the wage of interns and their salary will be deducted retroactively from September 1 of that year, by deducting the difference between the salary of a teacher with a bachelor's degree and that of a teaching intern, according to work hours and the scope of the position.

Those who are not employed under the New Horizon agreement are paid during the internship period according to the degree they hold. In this case, the salary of interns who chose to do the teaching internship in parallel to their final year of studies is that of a "senior qualified teacher," provided they present proof from the institution that they met all academic requirements for the previous years.

Paying entity

Teaching during the internship year is paid. Unpaid jobs are not recognized for the purpose of an internship. The paying entity can be the Ministry of Education, the owners of the teaching institution, or an association recognized by the Ministry of Education.

Seniority and promotion during the internship

The internship year counts toward seniority and tenure, provided that the duration of the internship meets the rules for recognition of this year toward seniority: at least six months of employment the same year. Promotion under the New Horizon reform agreement begins only after the internship year.

Teacher intern mentor

The teacher intern mentor is appointed by the school principal or by the school inspector. In technology education, the mentor is appointed only by the inspector. In preschool and kindergarten, the inspector appoints a preschool teacher as a mentor. The role of the mentor is to help the intern integrate into the system through regular weekly meetings. These mentoring sessions must start immediately upon admission to work. The mentor must observe the intern at least twice in a semester, document the observations in writing, provide regular feedback, perform the mid-year formative evaluation, and take part in the final evaluation at the end of the year. The mentor must have a seniority of at least five years in teaching, be a graduate of a supervisor training course, and must be invited to meetings during the mentoring year. The position is paid by the Ministry of Education.

Teaching internship workshop

In the course of the internship year, the intern must attend an internship workshop for support, empowerment, and professional development. The scope of the workshop is 60 hours. The intern must attend the workshop throughout the year, starting no later than a week after the beginning of teaching. The workshop takes place in one of the teacher training colleges or universities. Obtaining the license is contingent upon successfully meeting the requirements of the workshop. At the end of the workshop, a verbal or numeric grade is given, in accordance with institution regulations. Because of their uniqueness, the workshops for preschool teachers are held separately from workshops for teaching interns. Workshops for interns specializing in physical education are also held separately.

The internship year is devoted only to teaching and to the accompanying workshop and mentoring. No participation in professional development frameworks or other continuing training is allowed. This is because of the workload, and especially in light of the fact that interns are not yet licensed and cannot accumulate points toward New Horizon levels. See the General Director's Circular 2011/2, Section 8.2-17: "During the internship year the interns cannot be required to participate in other courses of professional development, especially because this year is not accumulated toward advancement within the New Horizon agreement."

Internship evaluation

In addition to the ongoing feedback and evaluation processes, two evaluations are conducted in the course of the year: A formative assessment (in January) and a final assessment (in May). The formative assessment is conducted by the teacher intern mentor and the final assessment by a committee headed by the inspector or school principal.

In schools, the committee must include a minimum of four members, with the school principal or a professional inspector heading the committee, the mentoring teacher, and a co-worker who knows the work of the intern.

In the kindergartens, the evaluation form signed by the preschool inspector and the mentoring teacher must be passed to the committee headed by the regional referent inspector, with participation of the representative of the teaching internship division.

Evaluations of interns in schools are sent to the Ministry of Education online.

Teaching certification

At the end of the teaching internship year, after the final assessment was received by the Ministry of Education, the interns receive a letter from the Internship and Start of Teaching Profession Division that certifies the end of the internship year specifying: whether the intern passed with distinction or successfully, whether an additional internship year is required, or whether the intern is not suitable for teaching at all. Those who successfully completed the year of internship are required to send the internship completion certificate and the workshop completion certificate, together with their degree diploma and a teaching certificate to the Senior Teaching HR Division, after which the teaching certificate is mailed to the intern's home address.

Additional information can be found at the Teaching Internship Division (Hebrew)