The contribution of structural and individual factors of special education teachers according to two integration models

Amendment 11 of the Special Education (SEd) Law in Israel (2018) expanded the existing model for including students with disabilities in regular schools; however, there is still a significant gap between policy and practice. The Shapira Committee (2025), underscored integration as a central goal. The study addresses the ongoing challenge of effectively integrating students with disabilities within mainstream education. The current study is grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Korpershoek et al., 2020), which postulates that teachers’ experiences are shaped not only by personal attributes but also by the broader organizational structure and school climate. Accordingly, this study distinguishes between structural and individual factors: Structural factors refer to level of school support, i.e. implementation of an integrative vision and pedagogical collaboration and individual factors refer to teachers’ attitudes toward integration, emotional labor, self-efficacy, and burnout (Crawford, 2020; Korpershoek et al., 2020). The emotional labor of teachers plays a significant role in their well-being, influencing both burnout and self-efficacy. Research Goals The main goal of this study was to examine the contribution of the macro-structural factors- 'school support' including school implementation of the integration vision and pedagogical support and collaboration and the micro-individual factors- 'teachers attitudes toward integration and emotional labor on teachers’ self-efficacy and burnout, focusing on two integrative education models, integrative classrooms and specific SEd classes.