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

Abstract

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.