Teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration in Israeli technological education

Nassar Tarabiy; Souad Abu Rukon

doi:10.20897/ejsteme/18879

Research Article

2026, 11(1), Article No: 37

Teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration in Israeli technological education

Nassar Tarabiy ¹ ^* , Souad Abu Rukon ¹

¹ UNEM University, COSTA RICA
^* Corresponding Author

https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/18879

Published in Volume 11 Issue 1: 30 Jun 2026

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Abstract

This article reports an exploratory quantitative field survey of teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration in Israeli technological education. The study analyzed 589 complete questionnaire responses from in-service teachers who participated in a programme-linked STEM and technological education context. The questionnaire examined pedagogical perceptions, engagement and motivation, innovative pedagogy, future readiness, implementation-related perceptions, and strategic support for STEM integration. After psychometric screening, these dimensions were treated as exploratory composites rather than validated latent constructs. The final measurement model showed acceptable to excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .75-.91), after Q16 was removed from the future-readiness composite and Q22 was reverse-coded according to its original negative wording. Descriptive findings indicated stronger endorsement of classroom-proximal dimensions, particularly engagement and innovative pedagogy, than of broad future-readiness claims. Group differences were observed across age, teaching experience, and academic qualification, but interpretation is bounded by the non-probability, programme-linked sampling frame. Welch ANOVA and Games-Howell comparisons were used where variance homogeneity was violated. Hierarchical regression with dummy-coded demographic controls showed strong within-questionnaire associations between strategic support for STEM and both innovative pedagogy and implementation-related perceptions. The negative adjusted coefficient for future readiness was interpreted as a suppression pattern under substantial overlap with implementation-related perceptions, not as a substantive negative relationship. The findings suggest that teacher support for STEM depends less on reform rhetoric alone and more on whether STEM is experienced as pedagogically usable, professionally credible, and organizationally feasible in school practice.

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APA 7th edition

In-text citation: (Tarabiy & Abu Rukon, 2026)
Reference: Tarabiy, N., & Abu Rukon, S. (2026). Teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration in Israeli technological education. European Journal of STEM Education, 11(1), Article 37. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/18879

AMA 10th edition

In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Tarabiy N, Abu Rukon S. Teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration in Israeli technological education. European Journal of STEM Education. 2026;11(1), 37. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/18879

Chicago

In-text citation: (Tarabiy and Abu Rukon, 2026)
Reference: Tarabiy, Nassar, and Souad Abu Rukon. "Teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration in Israeli technological education". European Journal of STEM Education 2026 11 no. 1 (2026): 37. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/18879

Harvard

In-text citation: (Tarabiy and Abu Rukon, 2026)
Reference: Tarabiy, N., and Abu Rukon, S. (2026). Teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration in Israeli technological education. European Journal of STEM Education, 11(1), 37. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/18879

MLA

In-text citation: (Tarabiy and Abu Rukon, 2026)
Reference: Tarabiy, Nassar et al. "Teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration in Israeli technological education". European Journal of STEM Education, vol. 11, no. 1, 2026, 37. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/18879

Vancouver

In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Tarabiy N, Abu Rukon S. Teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration in Israeli technological education. European Journal of STEM Education. 2026;11(1):37. https://doi.org/10.20897/ejsteme/18879

Keywords

integrated STEM, technological education, teacher perceptions, exploratory composites, future readiness, implementation-related perceptions, Israel

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