The purpose of the study was to reveal the commonalities and differences between two groups of teachers with disabilities: Teachers with physical disabilities and Deaf/hard-of-hearing teachers and to explore the components of self-efficacy among these teachers.

Rationale: Diversity and inclusion in education often refer to students in schools. However, when diversity and inclusion refer to the teaching workforce, it usually discusses aspects of ethnicity and culture. While in recent years the number of teachers with disabilities in the teaching force has increased around the world, discussions about the inclusion of teachers with disabilities are scarce (Ingersoll et al., 2018). Despite their underrepresentation in the teaching force (Neca et al., 2020), they can help diversify the teaching workforce, solve challenging school issues and serve as role models for students with and without disabilities (Dvir, 2015; Jeffress, 2018; Wood & Happé, 2021).

Teachers’ self-efficacy refers to teachers’ belief in their ability to cope successfully with tasks, obligations, and challenges related to their professional role (e.g., pedagogical tasks, classroom management, resource usage, support for parents’ efforts to help their children learn, etc.). Teachers’ self-efficacy is an important component of their professional and personal success and has implications for teaching effectiveness, instructional techniques, and student performance (Graham et al., 2021; Klassen & Tze, 2014), as well as job satisfaction and levels of job-related stress arising from coping with students’ misbehaviors. According to Friedman and Kass (2002), teachers' self-efficacy refers to performing various teaching-related tasks in the classroom, and to performing organizational tasks and becoming part of the school's professional community. Both spheres require teachers to perform professional duties and maintain interpersonal relationships. Thus, teachers’ self-efficacy is an important component of their success (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk-Hoy, 2007).

A recent review of the international literature on teachers with disabilities found that these teachers have the potential to be fully capable of both teaching effectiveness and better understanding the special needs of students with disabilities in their classrooms. Still, this review underlines the complexity of planning and navigating their teaching careers, which are still affected by ableist and discriminatory practices (Bellacicco et al., 2022).

While there are numerous studies on the professional efficacy of teachers (e.g., Gordon et al., 2022; Wray, Sharma & Subban, 2022), only a few studies have examined the self-efficacy of TWD, and a recent book on TWD (Bellacicco & Ianes, 2022) did not specifically address their professional efficacy.

Our research questions were:

1. What are the differences and similarities between the self-efficacy of teachers with physical disabilities and Deaf/hard-of-hearing teachers?

2. What are some of the challenges teachers with physical disabilities and Deaf/hard-of-hearing teachers face in schools?

Using a qualitative, transcendental, phenomenological approach, we used semi-structured interviews with 20 teachers with disabilities. The data were analyzed using content analysis. 

Methods: A qualitative, transcendental, phenomenological approach was used in this study. Phenomenology is an approach to qualitative research that explores and describes the personal, subjective meaning of a lived experience shared by a group of people who have some commonalities (such as a profession). We wanted to explore the perceptions of teachers with disabilities based on their own perspectives and thus better represent their authentic voices. We aimed to understand the personal and collective interpretations of these teachers. All participants were teachers with a childhood disability. Ten had a motor disability due to cerebral palsy, injury, or a medical condition; and ten were Deaf or hard of hearing. Though this was a purposeful sample of unique professionals, it was also fairly small due to the characteristics of these professionals. The participants taught various age levels: Four taught in elementary schools, and sixteen taught in secondary schools. Some of the teachers (n=10) taught in inclusive classes, while others taught in special education classes or special education schools. Teachers were selected through personal and professional contacts, snowball sampling, and articles about them in newspapers. The protocol included open-ended questions about the participants' perspectives of themselves as teachers, followed up (when necessary) by their self-perspective of being a teacher with a disability; about their motivations to become teachers, and various questions about their sense of self-efficacy as teachers. Using a semi-structured interview allowed the researchers to add follow-up questions when further clarification was required, or omit questions that were answered earlier in the interview. Some of the questions referred to the participants’ perception of themselves as teachers and of successful teaching, while other questions referred to different aspects of professional efficacy in teaching. In addition, we used a brief demographic questionnaire for each participant. At the beginning of the interview, each teacher was asked to sign an informed consent form. All the interviews with the Deaf and hard-of-hearing participants were conducted via Zoom, with a certified Israeli Sign Language interpreter assisting in the interpretation of the interview. These interviews were recorded and then transcribed. The recordings were outsourced to a company that employs people with disabilities as transcribers, enabling them to work from home.

Conclusions: There were five main themes reflecting the experiences of these teachers, divided into two spheres: 1. Classroom efficacy, included professional self-efficacy in class management, professional self-efficacy when teaching the curriculum, professional self-efficacy in building a meaningful relationship with students, and being a role model for students. The better the teachers' management of the classroom and teacher-student relationship, the higher was their sense of professional efficacy. 2. Organizational efficacy, refers to teachers’ professional self-efficacy as they function at the school level in various activities and commitments. Many teachers with physical disabilities described school efforts to create an accessible environment. In some cases, such accessibility was not sufficient, but generally, they were able to participate in school activities. However, for Deaf teachers many school activities were inaccessible, experiencing difficulties in forming social ties with hearing teachers. Thus, in terms of accessibility, physical accessibility often received more attention than communicative accessibility. There is a need to provide proper accessibility and communication so that these teachers can fulfill their potential and develop a higher sense of organizational self-efficacy. These findings offer both a theoretical understanding of the components of the self-efficacy of TWD and a practical contribution to increasing the inclusion of these teachers, thus diversifying the teaching workforce and acknowledging the unique contributions of such teachers. Administrative support is crucial to the development of professional efficacy in the classroom and in the organization. In order for all teachers to feel included and take an active role in school activities, including extracurricular activities, all school activities, including extracurricular activities, must have physical and communicative accessibility to all teachers. In addition, in light of the transition in recent years to distance learning, it is important to make sure that these systems are indeed accessible to all people with disabilities, students, or teachers.

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