Impacts of the TREP Intervention Program on Pre-Service EFL Teachers

As the global teacher shortage continues to grow, the teaching profession is struggling to retain its workforce and attract new candidates. This situation is also prominent in Israel where there has been a decrease in the number of applicants and graduates in all tracks of teacher education in the last few years. The teacher shortage is intensely felt in all core subjects, including in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). This study set out to investigate the impacts of an innovative teaching program, the TREP program, on third year pre-service EFL teachers’ levels of self-efficacy, sense of coherence in teaching situations (SOCITS) and motivation to pursue a career in teaching; and to examine whether these factors influenced their decision to pursue a teaching career upon graduation. This study employed mixed methods: 32 pre-service EFL teachers completed a pre-post questionnaire and kept reflective diaries throughout the TREP program and 22 of them were also interviewed. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, whereas thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings revealed a significant increase in the levels of self-efficacy, SOCITS and two of the motivation factors: perceived teaching ability and intrinsic career values following the participation in the TREP program. The qualitative analysis supported these findings and shed light on the importance of all four components of the TREP program: Teaching, Relationships, Exposure and Pedagogy. Nevertheless, only 53% of the participants decided to pursue a teaching career. Implications for teacher education programs are discussed.