Israeli Teachers Research Articles

Teachers' TPACK during the Covid-19 crisis: an ecological perspective on Arab and Jewish teachers in Israel

PurposeThis research examined correlations between contextual factors: frequency of online teaching (OT) (number of hours per week), Transformational Leadership Style (TLS) and TPACK (TPACK) among Arab and Jewish teachers in Israel after more than a year of teaching online during the Covid-19 crisis.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative methodology elicited data from 437 questionnaires. An online questionnaire was first sent to Israeli Arab and Jewish teachers studying for M.A degrees in three randomly selected higher education institutes in Israel, and then the questionnaire was sent to other teachers, selected through the snowball method. After data collection common method variance was precluded.FindingsThe findings of this research indicated a positive correlation between frequency of OT, TLS and TPACK among Israeli teachers. Major differences were found between Arab and Jewish teachers: Arab teachers (AT) reported more improvement of TPACK, although they taught fewer hours than Jewish teachers (JT). In addition, TLS and sector (Arab/Jewish) moderated the positive correlation between the frequency of OT and TPACK among ATs.Originality/valueThe findings of this research validate the opportunity created by the Covid-19 crisis for cultivation of teachers’ TPACK through OT. This research contributes to extant relevant literature and practice concerning the influence of contextual factors on teachers' improvement of their TPACK while performing OT during the Covid-19 crisis and can inform the design of ecological and culturally appropriate education policies in the post-COVID-19 period. The research was built on the theories of TLS, which is a crucial component supporting the influence of technology integration. The findings strengthen existing knowledge on the unique capacity of TLS to buffer negative external influences imposed on teachers' TPACK and motivate them.

Empowerment as a Mediator between Instructional Leadership and Teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior

The study explores the mediating effect of teacher’s empowerment on the relationship between instructional leadership (IL) to teacher’s organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) toward student, team-members, and school. 395 Israeli teachers completed PIMRS, SPES, OCB, and demographic questionnaire. Path analysis showed a good fit of the data to the theoretical model. Teacher’s empowerment is a partial mediator for OCB toward student and school; and a full mediator for OCB toward team-members. Teacher’s OCB is crucial for schools’ effectivity, therefore identifying empowerment as a full mediator for OCB toward team-members may assist improving teamwork, especially through IL.

"The Difficulties of Teaching English through Literature in the Israeli EFL Classroom"

The teaching of English through literature has become a central component and source of the language curriculum as well as a crucial aim of English instruction. Literature has always been an important element in the Israeli English curriculum emphasizing its importance, highlighting its usage as a tool in teaching English as a second or foreign language and stressing its ability to teach critical thinking. Yet despite all the updated English Literature Program Reforms, the specific guidelines, the instructions and the strategies on how to teach English through literature, Israeli teachers are still facing difficulties when teaching English literature in class.

Psychological capital as a mediator of job satisfaction and burnout among teachers in special and standard education

ABSTRACT Teaching is a stressful profession, and rates of departure are high. We examined whether teachers’ levels of psychological capital (PsyCap), a concept integrating four positive psychological resources (hope, self-efficacy, resilience, optimism), affects their job satisfaction and burnout. Israeli schools are now required to be inclusive; consequently, teachers in standard educational settings teach children with special needs, despite a lack of training. Our sample comprised 123 Israeli teachers: 56 from special education schools and 67 from standard education system. As hypothesised, higher levels of PsyCap were correlated with higher job satisfaction and lower burnout among all teachers. Also as hypothesised, there were differences in job satisfaction and burnout: special education teachers reported more job satisfaction and less burnout. Both groups had similar levels of PsyCap, thus not supporting our hypothesis. The findings suggest the need to rethink working conditions for teachers in standard education when classes are required to be inclusive. As it is possible to improve PsyCap through intervention programmes, researchers and policymakers may consider designing and testing interventions for teachers.

Teachers’ responses to students’ informal political dialogue: Charting the grey areas in school

Recess, the bus ride home, the school corridor and other grey areas are ambiguous for both teachers and students and fall under less institutional regulation. The purpose of this study was to examine the ways teachers would react when they encounter students’ informal political comments in the grey areas. We presented vignettes to 71 Palestinian teachers and 64 Jewish teachers in Israel and asked them what they would have done in a similar situation in their classroom. Teachers’ reactions were on a continuum ranging from avoidance and passivity to engaging in multidimensional mediation. Differences between Jewish and Palestinian teachers were found, and they reflect power relations between the Jewish majority and the Palestinian minority, which involve Palestinian teachers being more reluctant to engage in controversial public issues due to their minority status.

Teachers' Willingness to Seek Help for Violence Against Them: The Moderating Effect of Teachers' Seniority.

Students' violence against teachers is a significant problem in many schools worldwide. Yet very little is known about the teachers who suffer from violence and the way they contend with it. The current study focused on teachers' willingness to seek help for violence. More specifically it focused on the effect of teachers' seniority-by means of time (years of teaching) and proficiency general pedagogical knowledge (GPK)-on their willingness to seek help from other teacher-colleagues or members of school management. The sample consisted of 233 Israeli teachers (199 women) from elementary (35%), middle (34.2%), and high school (45%). Teachers' ages were 21 to 68 (mean = 41.77; SD = 10.96), and years of teaching ranged from less than 1 year up to 40 years in the school system (mean = 12.13; SD = 10.67). The findings revealed a negative correlation between victimization and willingness to seek help: namely, the higher the level of violence teachers suffered, the less willing they were to seek help from either colleagues or school management. Also, senior teachers were less likely to seek help from colleagues than were novice teachers, and the negative association between victimization and willingness to seek help was stronger among teachers who had a higher GPK. Moreover, years of teaching served as a risk factor for help-seeking from colleagues, and GPK served as a risk factor for help-seeking from both colleagues and management, but only amidst high levels of violence. Findings revealed the difficulties teachers have when facing violence as well as the role played by their professional status when considering seeking help at school.

Too old to learn? The ambivalence of teaching experience in an Israeli teacher leadership initiative

This study examines veteran and novice teachers’ identities in the policy, culture and practice of an Israeli teacher leadership initiative. Building on four years of ethnographic fieldwork, we used discourse analytic methods to investigate references to “veteran” and “novice” teachers in staff meetings, professional development, and interviews. While experience is valued in most professional contexts, it was treated with ambivalence in this leadership initiative. “Veterans” were seen as knowledgeable and confident but resistant to change and learning. “Novices” were seen as potential leaders but insecure and lacking expertise. We discuss implications for teachers' work, learning and the educational system.

Emotional capital in schools: principals' caring leadership as a moderator of the mediated association between emotional geographies and school climate

PurposeThe caring leadership of principals is viewed as a professional method for utilizing emotional capital. The present study investigated the moderating relationship of caring leadership with the associations between emotional geographies, emotional distance and school climate.Design/methodology/approachData from a cross-sectional survey of 305 Israeli teachers working in public schools were used to investigate a model of moderated mediation.FindingsCaring leadership of principals moderates the association of emotional distance with school climate and is related to mediated associations between emotional geographies and school climate.Originality/valueThis is the first study to combine Hargreaves' theory of emotional geographies of schools with principals' caring leadership, providing insight on the role of school leadership in bridging fundamental gaps between key actors and treating crippling emotional dynamics.

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) above and beyond: Teachers' OCB during COVID-19

The study investigated teachers' organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey's quantitative analysis (N = 299) revealed that Israeli teachers reported more OCBs “during COVID-19″ than “before COVID-19,” mostly towards students, less towards the school and parents, and least towards colleagues. The qualitative analysis enabled the identification of the unique construct of teacher OCB during the pandemic, composed of six categories: promoting academic achievement, investing extra time, providing support to students, use of technology, compliance with regulations, and compliance with role changes. These findings emphasize the importance of understanding OCB as a context-related phenomenon, especially during crises times.

Transcultural Comparison of the Professional Identity and Role Perceptions of Special Education Pre-Service Teachers in Israel

This study examines the differences and similarities between Arab and Jewish pre-service teachers (PSTs) in Israel, in terms of their professional identity development, their perceptions of the teacher’s role and their self-efficacy in teaching. The sample consisted of 168 PSTs from a College for education in Israel, 103 Jewish and 65 Arab. All the participants study for B.A. in Special Education. The research instruments were: Teacher Professional Identity Scale, Teacher’s Self Efficacy Scale, Professional identity Scale for SE teachers. A significant main effect of year of study was found in the PSTs’ professional identity development, indicating that the second-year PSTs scored higher than the first-year PSTs. Additional paired samples t-test examining the differences between the two time points in each cultural sector and each year of study indicated that both Jewish and Arab second year PSTs scored higher on the teaching self-efficacy at the end of the second academic year compared to the beginning of the same year.

Students engagement in remote‐learning during the Covid‐19 crisis: The role of the support provided to teachers and the parent–teacher relationship

AbstractThe global COVID‐19 pandemic has suddenly forced hundreds of millions of teachers to shift from in‐person to remote teaching. This abrupt change from classroom to home as the context for learning has required teachers to make substantial modifications and adjustments to engage their students in learning. This study was designed to explore what characterizes those teachers who better engage their students in learning. Based on the theoretical assumptions of Self Determination Theory (SDT), we asked whether teachers' experience of school as a need‐satisfying environment, their teaching style, efficacy, and their relations with the students' parents, impact students' engagement in remote learning. Three hundred and thirty‐six Israeli teachers completed self‐report questionnaires on need satisfaction, teaching efficacy, teaching style, parent–teacher relationship, and students' engagement during Israel's May 2020 school shutdown. The results showed that teachers' experience of need‐satisfaction emerged as a resource for teachers' efficacy, teaching style, and ability to create and maintain a positive relationship with parents. A positive relationship between parents and teachers, in turn, was associated with higher students' engagement in remote learning even when statistically controlling for socioeconomic status or grade level. These results highlight the critical role of the parent–teacher relationship in engaging students while learning remotely and suggest that the support provided to both teachers and parents can reduce disparities in students' engagement and promote engagement with learning under challenging contextual circumstances.

Long COVID-19 Symptoms among Recovered Teachers in Israel: A Mixed-Methods Study

This study sought to examine the impact of long-COVID symptoms on the occupational status of teachers after recovery. A mixed-methods study was conducted in Israel in June 2022 among teachers who had recovered within the past six months. The quantitative data were collected using a self-report online survey (n = 170) based on questionnaires, and the qualitative data were based on individual semi-structured in-depth online interviews (n = 26). Participants reported the following symptoms: fatigue (43.7%), weakness (32.2%), difficulty sleeping (27.3%), pain or discomfort (22.4%), and anxiety (20.7%). Sense of control, social support, and well-being exhibited negative correlations with long-term symptoms (p < 0.001). A multivariate regression analysis revealed that the model explained 25% of the variance in long-term symptoms and that a greater sense of control and well-being predicted lower levels of long-term symptoms. In the qualitative study, the teachers reported high levels of symptoms that impaired their functioning, including guilt, despair, and lack of work motivation. Some teachers reported that the school staff helped them cope, whereas others described the staff’s alienated attitude. The research found that fatigue, weakness, and difficulty sleeping were the primary long-term symptoms that exerted a significant impact on teachers’ functioning and well-being.

The great resignation: Exploring the effect of regular and digital instructional leadership on teachers’ intention to leave

Research on the effect of COVID-19 and its aftermath on education is gaining momentum. Nevertheless, this expanding contemporary literature only scarcely addresses principals’ digital instructional leadership and has not investigated how principals’ regular instructional leadership aligns with it. Moreover, the emerging writing on the aftermath of COVID-19 notes the phenomenon of teacher shortages in schools as a result of a growing tendency of teachers to leave the profession, but the possible connection with various forms of principals’ instructional leadership remains unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of combinations of different levels of principals’ regular instructional leadership and digital instructional leadership on teachers’ intention to leave. Cluster analysis of data of 267 school teachers in Israel was conducted. The results indicate an association between differences in teachers’ intention to leave the profession and mixtures of regular and digital instructional leadership. The results and their implications are discussed.

Technology integration in emergency remote teaching: teachers' self-efficacy and sense of success.

Sense of success and self-efficacy regarding technology integration in teaching are among the most important factors that influence teachers' well-being and professional development, and may have a substantial impact on student learning. In this quantitative study (N = 735K-12 teachers in Israel), we explored the factors contributing to sense of success in emergency remote teaching and self-efficacy for integrating technology in teaching following the experience of teaching during COVID-19 days. We use decision-tree models to look at nuanced relations. Overall, our findings highlight the crucial-albeit not surprising-role of experience in teaching with technology as an important factor that promotes sense of success and self-efficacy. Going beyond this factor, we emphasize that emotional difficulties in times of emergency may serve as an important risk factor, and that taking a leading role in school may serve as an important protective factor. We also found an advantage to STEM and Language teachers, compared with Social Sciences and Humanities teachers. Following our findings, we conclude with a set of recommendations that could enhance school-based teaching and learning at large.

‘The limits of my language’: Sense of belonging/otherness of minority teachers in Israel

Belonging is a basic human experience that symbolizes social relations and social structure. This study examined the institutional sense of belonging of minority teachers to their school and its association with sociodemographic (first language, education and gender) and systemic variables (seniority, heterogeneity of training college, teaching discipline, role at school and education system). We found that sociodemographic variables had a much stronger association to the teachers’ sense of belonging than systemic variables did. Particularly, a strong relationship was found between the teachers’ sense of belonging and what they defined as their first language. Conversely, most systemic variables had no relation to institutional belonging, except teaching discipline. The findings indicate the difficulties education systems have in incorporating minority teachers or even moderating their sense of otherness by offering the opportunity of recognition of all teachers. We argue that this stems from native language being a core/basic status, whether it is related to immigration or to a national divide.

Professional Crisis or Temporary Burnout? Teacher’s Experiences Towards the End of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Various studies were conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic on teachers’ experiences and feelings during the abrupt shift to remote learning; however, the prolonged effects of the pandemic on teachers in Israel have not been examined. The present study was conducted towards the end of the pandemic, during the last (and, so far, final) wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Israel. This wave was characterized by the resumption of in-person classroom teaching or hybrid teaching and refraining from imposing lockdowns. For this study, interviews were conducted with 58 elementary school teachers. Analysis of the interviews reveals a profound rupture in the teachers’ sense of efficacy, stemming from numerous changes, an upsurge in emotional and social problems among children, and teachers’ skills being only partially suited to the situation. As stated by the teachers, it seems that role frustration and a rising tendency to leave the education system express the need for long-term change in the teaching profession. An analysis of findings is provided from the perspective of theories of organizational engagement and employee competence. Recommendations are proposed concerning teachers’ future professional development processes.

Teachers’ Workplace Victimization, Job Burnout, and Somatic and Posttraumatic Symptoms: A Structural Equation Modeling Examination

Teachers’ workplace victimization is a serious and concerning problem known to have numerous negative occupational and health outcomes for teachers. Surprisingly, however, the scientific literature has broadly overlooked schools as settings in which serious workplace violence occurs, and it has failed to systematically explore the antecedents and consequences of workplace victimization for teachers. To fill this gap, this study examined the structures of associations of teachers’ victimization via threats, verbal violence, and property violence with somatic and posttraumatic symptoms using structural equation modeling. The sample included 366 Arabic and Jewish teachers in Israel. The findings indicate that the teachers who reported victimization and symptoms experienced burnout, whereas the teachers who reported victimization and had no symptoms did not experience burnout. A significant relationship of teachers’ personal and professional characteristics with victimization, symptoms, and burnout also emerged. These findings advance our theoretical understanding of the predictors and consequences of violence against teachers in schools. Useful practices to improve teachers’ occupational and health outcomes are discussed.

Challenges to Israeli Teachers during the Fifth Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Did They Cope When the Schools Reopened?

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant demands on teachers. After the state of emergency was lifted, schools reopened and teachers began teaching face-to-face classes while maintaining safety precautions. Insufficient empirical research has examined the situation of teachers since the schools reopened. This study aimed to assess the association between coping resources (resilience and social support) and psychological outcomes (loneliness, depression) among teachers using cross-sectional assessment data from 250 Israeli schoolteachers during the fifth wave of the pandemic in Israel (January 2022). The findings show that depression and loneliness were negatively associated with resilience and social support, while fear of COVID-19 was positively associated with depression and loneliness. Multiple regression models were significant, explaining 37% of the variance in depression and 29% of the variance in loneliness. Further research is needed to explore the impact of coping resources on psychological outcomes to improve teachers’ emotional well-being during emergencies.

Teachers' perspectives toward integrating special education need learners in normal classrooms: A case study of Arab teachers in Israel

This paper constitutes a relatively new area that has emerged from the relationship between Special Education Need (SEN) students in normal classrooms and teachers’ perspectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that could contribute to differences in attitudes of public-school teachers toward the inclusion of students with special needs in general education classes in the Arab schools in Israel. The study used a quantitative methodology, adopting an online survey method of data collection, addressed to a total number of 237 teachers working in government public schools. The findings indicated that teachers who hold a master’s degree were more likely to accept the idea of integrating SEN students in regular settings and suggested that teachers' education level affected their emotional attitude towards SEN integration. These findings embody significant practical meanings. A change is needed in the way Arab society perceives students with SEN, and how this society treats their integration into the framework of regular students. A practical recommendation of this study is that the Ministry of Education should offer intensive training for a wide range of teachers to be able to deal with students with special needs.

Secondary school mathematics teacher-perceived factors involved in argumentation: an emerging framework

ABSTRACT Our research focuses on ways teachers envision argumentation in their secondary mathematics classrooms. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 secondary school mathematics teachers in Israel. They were asked to envisage a hypothetical classroom dialogue focusing on mathematical tasks which would engage their students in some argumentative activity. Analysis of the teachers’ responses identified categories related to both structural and dialogic aspects associated with three dimensions of argumentation: (1) task characteristics, (2) teaching strategies, and (3) students’ characteristics. From a cross-analysis of the teachers’ statements certain categories appeared more frequently than others. We interpret our results from a theoretical and practical perspective and make recommendations for areas of future research.