Beit Berl College (BBC), one of Israel’s oldest and largest public colleges, is a multidisciplinary and multicultural leading academic institution in the areas of education, society and the arts. BBC was fully licensed as an academic college in 1979. Jews and Arabs work and study side by side at BBC, where education is considered a means for improving educational achievements, effecting social change and advancing social justice. BBC offers undergraduate (B.Ed./B.Ed.FA) and graduate (M.Ed., M.Teach., M.A.AT) degrees, as well as teaching certification in the faculties of Education, Arts, and Society and Culture.
The BBC Faculty of Education’s renowned rigorous and entrepreneurial approach to community education and initial teacher education, offers training programs ranging from early childhood to secondary education, informal education, at-risk youth and special education. It comprises the Arab Academic Institute of Education, which trains teachers for the Israeli Arab education system in Arabic, and has research and library facilities focusing on Arabic language and culture. The Faculty of Arts trains teachers in art, video, digital media and film, intertwining the Arts and education in innovative ways. The Faculty of Society and Culture constitutes programs and disciplines in social sciences and Humanities.
For two decades, BBC has worked on the improvement of its pre-service programs developing multiple clinical approaches like Professional Development in School (PDS), Teach First and the Residency model. At the same time, the College paid special attention to the induction stage of beginning teachers and the life-long-learning opportunities of practicing teachers. This provided a more cohesive and coherent transition from pre-service into incipient stages in the field. In particular, BBC's unique experience in supporting novices in their first years in practice has proved to be very effective and needs to be further explored in order to extend its scale and guarantee its long-term success (see also section E1). This is at the heart of the PROTEACH Project.
BBC is a partner in the TEMPUS IV project: Fostering Academic International Relations in Israeli Colleges to Promote Education, Research and Innovation (IRIS). The College also expands its international academic relations to enhance student and faculty mobility.