THE ROLE OF THE EDUCATIONAL COUNSELOR IN THE INCLUSION AND INTEGRATION PROCESSES

: The current study examined the attitudes and perceptions of educational counselors with respect to the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classrooms (mandated by the Israeli Special Education law), along with assessing their sense of self-efficacy, job satisfaction and stress. 101 elementary and middle school educational counselors filled out questionnaires on self-efficacy, job satisfaction, stress and mainstreaming perceptions. In addition, 11 semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gain a deeper understanding of the ways they cope with inclusion. Significant differences were found between elementary school and middle school educational counselors in their attitudes toward inclusion, where elementary school counselors were more favorable, had a higher sense of self-efficacy and expressed more positive attitudes towards inclusion. Self-efficacy and job satisfaction were correlated. In general, educational counselors deal with a wide variety of stress factors and are aware of the difficulties inherent to social inclusion as compared to academic inclusion.

Inclusion of Students with Special Needs
Today, because of the inclusion of more special education students, it is the teacher's role to find a way to reach out to each student. In differential teaching, the teacher identifies the needs of the students and allows them to learn according to their level, cognitive or cultural ability, or according to strengths and learning preferences (Keshet- Mor, 2017). Currently, parents of students with special needs have multiple options available to them when choosing an educational framework. These include special education schools, integrative inclusion, i.e., a special classroom in the mainstream education system, and inclusive integration, i.e., individual integration of students in a mainstream class in the mainstream education system.
In 1975, the US Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act  to support the placement of students with special needs in an environment where they could develop without limitations. Sandoval-Gomez, Cosier, and Cardina (2020) examined the inclusion of students with special needs in different countries and found that most preferred a type of integration that best benefits the needs of these students. However, not all researchers are of the same opinion as to the attitudes of educational counselors towards inclusion. For example, Bowen and Glenn (1998) found that educational counselors sometimes have lower expectations for students with special needs. Similarly, Castillo (2016) found that at times, educational counselors are prejudicial toward students with disabilities in a manner that impacts their work with these students. However, in general Erhard and Umanksy (2005) and Zinn-Dror (2016) found that educational counselors tend to show a positive attitude towards inclusion and support their school's inclusion policy. Hen (2010) argued that students' sense of self-efficacy is directly influenced by their interaction between the important figures in their lives and these individuals' attitude towards them. Teachers' sense of self-efficacy is defined as their perception of their ability to fulfill professional tasks related to different educational demands (Hen, 2010). Teachers whose sense of self-efficacy is high have more faith in their students than teachers with a lower sense of self-efficacy (Kass, 2012). Bandura (1977Bandura ( , 1997) defined selfefficacy as an individual's perception of competence with respect to a specific task or behavior. Bandura (1982) argued that self-efficacy affects emotional responses and behavior, especially when reacting to stress and an unfamiliar situation. Self-efficacy is considered to be the process of connecting knowledge and action. Hence, people who doubt their ability will invest less effort and easily give up when facing difficulties. They may also feel anxious in situations they fear they cannot handle (Bandura, 1994). According to Goroshit and Hen (2016), teachers with a high sense of self-efficacy tend to accept students with special needs into their classrooms with ease. By contrast, teachers with a low sense of self-efficacy focus on the strong students and see the struggling students as disruptive to the classroom (Aziz & Ouraishi, 2017;Crispel, 2017). Crispel (2017) claimed that a higher sense of self-efficacy among teachers impacts the amount of effort a teacher is willing to invest and the level of perseverance in coping with difficulties, obstacles, and negative experiences.

Level of Educational Counselors' Job Satisfaction
Various studies have defined contentment as an emotional reaction, a sense of fulfillment and job satisfaction. These studies also note that job satisfaction can lead to positive behavior (Bardhoshi et al., 2014;Mathews, 2014;Mullen et al., 2017). The parameters leading to employee satisfaction include salary, promotion possibilities, interpersonal relations, and type of task (Thomas & Tymon, 1994). Roznho and Gilat (2017) suggested that the educational counselor's role carries significant stress factors with it, which may lead to overall discontent with the job. Mullen, Chae, Backer, and Niles (2021) suggested that the stress experienced by educational counselors is often the result of the multiple demands associated with their job. Distress and tension at work are an everyday experience. Stress is usually accompanied by worries, fear, and depression. Stress can also lead to fatigue, low productivity, and weaker performance (Mushtaq, 2018). Bardhoshi, Schweinle, and Duncan (2014) reported that educational counselors whose roles entailed more professional duties experienced more success and were more contented and committed to their work. Maslow's Needs Theory hierarchy explored the various factors motivating human behavior (Maslow, 1970) and identified five groups of human needs: physiological needs, safety needs (physical and financial), social needs, recognition, and appreciation and the need for self-actualization, which was ranked as the highest in the hierarchy. This need prompts individuals to seek out satisfaction and the fulfillment of their abilities. An employee's satisfaction can be expressed by both internal contentment and external contentment. Internal contentment is the effort the individual invests, personal achievements, involvement, control over work methods, responsibility, and challenge. External contentment refers to external sources such as recognition, feedback, promotion, salary, and bonuses (Alfahel et al., 2017;Thomas & Tymon, 1994). However, no study has examined self-efficacy, stress, and pressure among educational counselors with regard to inclusion (Chazan, 1994;Janney et al., 1995). This study was thus designed to explore six key questions: 1) What are the attitudes of elementary and junior high school educational counselors regarding the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classrooms? 2) Is there a correlation between the attitudes of elementary and junior high school educational counselors regarding inclusion of students with special needs and their level of job satisfaction? 3) Is there a correlation between educational counselors' sense of self-efficacy, sense of job satisfaction, and inclusion of students with special needs? 4) What type of stress and pressure do elementary and junior high school educational counselors experience when dealing with the inclusion challenges of students with special needs (uncommon disabilities)? 5) What difficulties do educational counselors experience in terms of the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classes in their schools? 6) How do educational counselors evaluate the inclusion of special education students both educationally and socially?

Participants
One hundred and one elementary and junior high school educational counselors whose schools integrate students with special needs in mainstream classrooms were administered the quantitative part of the study. Of these, 11 educational counselors engaged in a semi-structured interview. The participants ranged in age from 27 and 61 with seniority ranging from 1 to 31 years (Mean=16, S.D.=5.03). All these counselors work in mainstream schools where students with uncommon special needs are integrated such as students with sensory disabilities (blindness, deafness, etc.), developmental intellectual disabilities, autism, physical disabilities, rare illnesses and syndromes, developmental or language delay, and emotional as well as behavioral difficulties. Table 1 presents the demographic characteristics of the educational counselors.

Measures
Two research methods were implemented in this study: a quantitative method where data were gathered using questionnaires, and a qualitative method, where data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires. As in Sabar Ben-Yehoshua (1990), a combination of these two methods completed and validated the data.

Quantitative Instruments a. Demographic Questionnaire
The participants were asked to indicate their age, education, gender, religion, years of seniority, number of students with special needs attending the school and their characteristics.

b. General Self-Efficacy Scale (Gully & Chen, 1997)
This questionnaire is composed of 14 items representing the beliefs of the participants with regard to their abilities and achievement of goals. For example, "I believe I can be more efficient in different roles", or "When I face difficult tasks, I am sure I can execute them". Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1) "do not agree at all" to (5) "agree very much". The Cronbach's alpha in the original study was α=0.92. In the current study, Cronbach's alpha was α=0.97.

c. Job Satisfaction and Commitment Questionnaire (Rusbult & Farrell, 1983)
This questionnaire examines individuals' level of commitment to their workplace and their satisfaction. The questionnaire is comprised of 23 statements, divided into several key areas: bonuses, for example: "Generally speaking, to what degree do you perceive your work to be satisfactory?"; costs deriving from work, for example: "To what extent, generally speaking, does your work entail difficulties?"; investment at work, for example: "Generally speaking, how much have you invested in your work?"; job alternatives, for example: "All things considered, how good are job alternatives compared to your current job?"; degree of satisfaction, for example: "All things considered, how content are you with your job?"; and commitment to work, for example: "How long would you like to stay in this job?". In the original study the Cronbach's alpha for work bonuses was α= 0.92 -0.81 ; costs deriving from work was α= 0. 86 -0.58 ; investment in work was α= -0.75 .80 0 ; job alternatives was α= 0.77 -0.60 ; commitment to work was α= 0. 93 -0.88 ; and degree of satisfaction from work was α= 0. 95 -0.93 . Items are rated on a 9-point Likert scale ranging from (1) "not at all" to (9) "very much". In the current study, the overall Cronbach's alpha was α=0.92.

d. PSS -Scale Stress Perceived (Cohen, Kamarck, and Mermelstein, 1983)
This 14-item questionnaire assesses individuals' distress level on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from (1) "never" to (4) "very often". Some items relate to a general feeling of stress and recent distress such as: "To what extent have you felt nervous and stressed recently?". The remaining items examine the extent to which the individual feels able to cope with these feelings: "Recently, to what degree have you felt that things were happening according to your desires?" The Cronbach's alpha was α=0.84-0.86. The general score is based on the means of the scores on each item, such that a high score indicates a high level of distress. In the current study, the Cronbach's alpha for the stressrelated items was α=0.76, and α=0.82 for coping with stress.

e. ORM -Opinions Relative to Mainstreaming (Leysere & Kirk, 2004)
This inclusion and educational assessment questionnaire was adapted for educational counselors for the purposes of the current study. The questionnaire consists of 18 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from (1) "highly disagree" to (5) "very much agree". The items are divided into positive and negative statements. The questionnaire was translated into Hebrew by Leysere and Romi (2005) and has been used frequently in Israel. The researchers reported a Cronbach's alpha α=0.82. The adapted questionnaire consists of 14 statements, for example: "Inclusion prepares students with disabilities for real life", "In inclusion, students with disabilities receive less educational assistance", "Students with disabilities are likely to progress faster in a special education class than via inclusion". The Cronbach's alpha against inclusion was α=0.75, and for items in favor of inclusion was α=0.89.

Qualitative Method -Semi-structured Interview for Educational Counselors
Eleven educational counselors took part in a semi-structured interview to gain a better understanding of the participants' attitudes toward the inclusion of students with special needs in their schools. The interviewees were asked a series of pre-defined questions, with a set, although flexible order that could be modified according to the interviewee and the evolving discourse. In the interview, the educational counselors were asked demographic, personal, social and systemic questions. For example: "How do you perceive the inclusion of students academically?"; "Do you experience difficulties or objections to inclusion from the staff, the students' families or the students (both students with special needs and their peers)?"; "Please provide an example of the additional challenges you face with regard to the inclusion process at school (such as budgetary challenges, school climate, quality of teaching and learning, etc.). The interviews were conducted during a one-on-one meeting at the location of the interviewee's choice. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed with Narralizer software (Shkedi, 2014). This software digitizes the data for further analysis. The analysis process consisted of several stages: 1) Formulation of an interview protocol, conducting interviews with experts and their transcription and a second reading of all the data. The purpose of this stage was to identify different patterns and segments of the data and obtain a full image of the data prior to assigning them to analysis units. 2) A mapping analysis where units are classified into categories from the protocol and the participants' responses. 3) After determining the categories that derived from the interviews, a "categorical tree" of the themes and sub-themes is formulated, to examine the links between them. 4) A summary table of the findings is created. This table includes the frequency of each theme and subtheme and helps pinpoint the main sub-themes.

Study Process
This study implemented a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology. The questionnaires were administered online. Participants signed a consent form and then filled out the questionnaires using an anonymous link that was sent to them via e-mail, WhatsApp, or social media platforms. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Open University. This study was conducted from December 2020 to February 2021. All responses were anonymous. The 11 educational counselors who took part in the interviews were contacted via snowball sampling. Three worked in secondary schools and eight in elementary schools.

Data Analysis
The quantitative analysis was conducted using SPSS software. The distributions, means and standard deviations of the variables were analyzed. To examine the correlations between the variables, Pearson correlations were conducted. The differences between groups for the different variables were examined using t-tests for independent samples.

Quantitative Findings
To examine the differences between attitudes in the elementary and junior high school counselors as regards inclusion in regular classes (N=101), t-tests were conducted. Table 2 shows a significant mean difference between the attitudes in favor of inclusion in elementary school vs. junior high educational counselors, t(97)=2.10, p=0.03 with elementary school counselors more in favor of inclusion. No significant difference between elementary and junior high school counselors was found in attitudes against inclusion. To examine the correlations between self-efficacy, job satisfaction and perceptions of inclusion, Pearson correlations analyses were conducted (see Table 3). Table 3 reports data for the entire sample without differentiating into school type.
The findings revealed a significant negative correlation between self-efficacy and attitudes favorable to inclusion, r(99)=-0.24, p=0.01, indicating that educational counselors with high self-efficacy did not tend to agree with negative attitudes towards inclusion. There was a significant negative correlation between self-efficacy and attitudes against inclusion in elementary school educational counselors, r(58)=-0.27, p=0.04. The correlation between self-efficacy and attitudes against inclusion in junior high school educational counselors was negative as well but not significant, r(38)=-0.18, p=0.26.
Overall, there was a significant positive correlation between job satisfaction and the self-efficacy score among educational counselors, r(101)=0.316, p=0.001. There was a significant positive correlation between the job satisfaction score and favorable attitudes toward inclusion r(102)=0.219, p=0.027, and a significant negative correlation between the job satisfaction score and attitudes against inclusion, r(102)=-0.237, p=0.016.
There was a significant positive correlation between the job satisfaction score and the self-efficacy score in elementary school counselors, r(60)=0.286, p=0.027, and junior high school counselors, r(38)=0.346, p=0.034. The correlation between job satisfaction and inclusion scores was not statistically significant for educational counselors at the elementary school.
There was a significant negative correlation between the job satisfaction score and attitudes against inclusion in junior high educational counselors, r(40)=-0.36, p=0.02, but a significant correlation between the job satisfaction score and favorable attitudes toward inclusion in junior high school counselors, r(40)=0.259, p=0.106.

Qualitative Findings
The qualitative analysis of the semi-structured interviews was conducted using the Narralizer (Shkedi, 2014) software. This section presents the themes identified in the qualitative analysis: difficulties faced by educational counselors (lack of sense of involvement, difficulties dealing with the staff and parents, budgetary problems, and difficulties identifying potential solutions), and their perceptions of these students both academically and socially (see Table 4).

Difficulties Faced by Educational Counselors 3.3.1 The Involvement of the Educational Counselor in the Inclusion of Students with Special Needs
The educational counselors claimed that they had no influence over the decision of whether to assign students to regular classes or not. They can be involved in the decision to find the classroom that is most suitable for inclusion but the decision of where the student is placed is made higher up.
"I used to be on committees. It is up to the parent. That's why unsuitable children came to the school." (A) Currently, parents have the right to decide where their child is placed; however, this decision often does not correspond to the student's academic abilities or social skills. With regard to the educational counselors' sense of their daily involvement with students with special needs in regular classrooms, the opinions were divided. While many stated they were highly involved, others stated that they only become involved if the teacher is unable to, or if the students are under the school's inclusion coordinator's responsibility.

"I am involved on a daily basis with some children, and with others, it is not necessary because their teacher is enough." (R)
Hence, the educational counselors appeared to believe their influence in deciding of whether to accept a weak student with special needs to a mainstream school is low. They do not feel as though they are part of the decision-making process. Furthermore, at times, the students' condition is inconsistent with the decision made for them.

Difficulties with the Staff and Parents
Some of the difficulties educational counselors face have to do with the staff, which needs to deal with heterogeneous classrooms, including assistants and paramedical staff. Difficulties also arise with the parents who, since the new legal reform, can decide where their child is placed.
"Wow. This is a very difficult case. It requires special preparation, it exhausts the teachers who are crying out for help!! They are placed and I have to cope…" (M) ACH described the difficulties educational counselors face with assistants: "More often than not the assistants themselves act like children and every little thing is an issue. They need to be the adult in charge of the child but they are unable to. Some aides are terrific but given the low budget, it's problematic. There isn't proper training for aides." (A) The educational counselors also described difficulties with parents, which often stems from refusals to place their child in a special education framework.

"As far the parents are concerned, they do not want to transfer their child to a different school, it's convenient to them, they don't leave the classroom, there is no stigma and no objection to the inclusion… they are comfortable with this law of inclusion in the mainstream classroom." (N)
It is evident that educational counselors must cope with many different difficulties. They deal with the difficulties of the teachers who struggle to cope with the variety of populations in the classroom.

Budgetary and Systemic Difficulties
All the educational counselors stated that their schools have experienced budget problems as a result of the reform which affects the way they can respond to students' needs "Budgets!! It is no surprise. 2.2 hours is nothing compared to the 37 hours of class time at our school. We try to give them private one-on-one hours, but it seems like there is no connection whatsoever between the ministry of education and the local authorities. This year, the aide started working in November… unbelievable." (N)

"I don't know what the connection is. The budget for inclusion is a joke. The children are integrated but the teachers are not given any tools!!! How do you integrate these children, we were not given any tools." (RO)
As can be seen, educational counselors experience frustration towards the system. They describe the minimal hours students with special needs require compared to the hours they are actually given and need to cope with. As far as they are concerned, the reform has only worsened the aid that students with special needs require and has led to a significant shortfall.

Potential Solutions
The educational counselors provided a wide variety of solutions, including having some of the children remain in special education, abrogating the parental mandate to choose their children's placement, providing homeroom teachers with practical tools, as well as preparing the staff and providing much-needed resources, such as a clearer division of roles; i.e., determining who is responsible for students with special needs, dividing the classroom into smaller groups, etc., all prior to the implementation of the legal reform. According to N, the law needs to be altered only after there has been a clear explanation and good preparation of the staff involved: "The team needed to be trained before the law was altered." (N) MH considered that small classrooms are a safe haven for these students: "Smaller classrooms and of course additional resources for classrooms, adjacent rooms… so that the children know there is a place where they can relax…" (MH) According to M, it is unclear who has responsibility for the children since role assignment is unclear.
"Who is responsible for them? The educational counselor? The teacher? What are our roles? There is no clear division… It is very unclear." (M).
R described situations where the budget and resource allocation is done automatically without considering specific children: "In one classroom I have a deaf child, a child with behavioral problems, a child who pees, battles between divorced parents, a child with a syndrome, and one teacher who has to contain it all. The distribution is very uncaring." (R).
Thus, the educational counselors describe an overall sense of confusion and lack of clarity regarding their role.

Academic and Social Aspects of Inclusion
In terms of inclusion, the educational counselors perceived the success of inclusion to depend on the type of disability; for example, whether the child is integrated based on an evaluation of emotional, mental, sensorial, and communicative capacities. They felt that the legal reform has resulted in poor placement decisions.
"There is no one appropriate answer. I have a child who is brilliant, but he is very weak academically. He sits for hours, unable to do anything in the classroom, and only draws. The parents are OK with it, as long as the school integrates him." (MH) When asked how social inclusion takes place, the educational counselors noted that integrated students often exclude themselves socially. Sometimes they are ashamed of their disability, and do not want to participate. MH stated: "The integrated children are the ones who have been rejected by society." (MH) According to R: "There is a difficulty. The children themselves want to feel normal, and they are ashamed of their disability. They struggle with their hearing impairment and remove their device. The blind child touches other children. In terms of social skills, we teach both classroom and personal social programs. We intervene where necessary." (R) The educational counselors presented the difficulty associated with students with a specific disability, compared to other populations where learning is relatively easy.

Discussion
The current study examined the attitudes and perceptions of educational counselors with respect to the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classrooms, while also assessing their sense of self-efficacy, job satisfaction and stress. The findings pointed to significant differences between the attitudes of elementary school and junior high school educational counselors, where the elementary school educational counselors took a more favorable approach towards inclusion. In junior high school, students encounter many educational figures, since teachers typically only teach one subject, whereas in elementary school there tends to be a single homeroom teacher. Thus, junior high school educational counselors have a more significant workload and receive more input about these students from a larger number of teachers. It is important to note that majority of teachers in mainstream education do not have a background in special education.
These results are consistent with Korkos and Korkos (2016), who examined the attitudes of educational counselors in the ultra-orthodox sector in elementary schools and high schools in Israel and found that educational counselors have positive attitudes towards inclusion. A study conducted in Finland indicated that elementary school teachers presented more favorable attitudes towards inclusion than junior high school teachers (Saloviita, 2020). By contrast, Bowen and Glen (1998) found that at times educational counselors lower their expectations toward students with special needs. Castillo (2016) found that educational counselors are often prejudiced towards students with disabilities, which may negatively impact their work. The interviews with the educational counselors led to the conclusion that inclusion should not be carried out at all costs. They described the various difficulties that arise from dealing with the system, they resent the fact that the legal reform was voted upon without consultations with homeroom teachers (Chiner & Cardona, 2013;Donnelly, 2010;Gavish & Shimoni, 2006;Saloviita, 2020), the lack of sufficient financial resources (Avramidis & Norwich, 200;Chiner & Cardona, 2013) and the fact that the child may not always be suitable for a mainstream classroom (Sandler-Loeff & Naon, 1997). These difficulties place considerable strain on educational counselors.
Nevertheless, the educational counselors did not argue against the ethics of inclusion, but rather criticized the way it is implemented (presenting the reform, budgeting it, teacher readiness, etc.). The findings indicate that educational counselors with a higher sense of self-efficacy presented more positive attitudes towards inclusion. However, despite the high sense of self-efficacy described in multiple previous studies (Crispel, 2017;Soodak et al., 1998), difficulties and reservations with regard to actual inclusion, rather than to its ethical aspects, still exist (Crispel, 2017;Talmor & Kayam, 2010). This may indicate that greater cooperation between the various actors in the school system could lead to a higher sense of self-efficacy by enabling educational counselors to be more available to staff and students. The educational counselors in the current study described situations in which they were flooded with different requests from various directions (the school staff, parents, students) they could not satisfy for budgetary reasons (too few hours, limited paramedical assistance). They resented the lack of assistance they receive, which may impact their self-efficacy and belief in their abilities.
There was a positive correlation between self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Educational counselors who reported more job satisfaction had a higher sense of selfefficacy. There was also a positive correlation between job satisfaction and support for the inclusion of students with special needs. On the one hand, the educational counselors reported strains affecting their sense of job satisfaction, including difficulties with the school staff, parents who prefer their child to be in mainstream education, assistants who do not perform their duties properly, distribution of hours, changes in paramedical staff, and most importantly, teachers who do not know how to cope with students with special needs. The latter has been investigated in studies internationally including Hong Kong, Spain and Japan (Chiner & Cardona 2013;Lee et al., 2015;Yada & Savolainen, 2017). All the above causes educational counselors to feel as though they are alone. For example, Caprara, Barbaranelli, Borgogni and Steca (2003), reported that self-efficacy is a key factor in teachers' job satisfaction. Previous studies have examined this issue in teachers but not among educational counselors (Avanzi et al., 2012;Choi et al., 2019 ;Collie et al., 2012).
The sense of pressure and distress among elementary and junior high school educational counselors was a significant part of the interviews. Similarly, Mor and Lurie (2014) reported that the multiple students who require educational counselor's attention cause them to feel a significant strain. This is augmented by the fact that the teachers themselves often do not have the time to address these students' difficulties (due to the strain they themselves experience at work), leading to a sense of burnout among the educational counselors (Moyer, 2011;Wilczenski et al., 2010). The legal reform requires mainstream teachers with no background in special education to adapt their learning materials to students with special needs from different populations, as well as foster learning and social skills in heterogeneous classrooms (Armstrong, 2018;Heyder et al., 2020).
During the interviews, the educational counselors stated that in their view, the success of academic inclusion depends on the child's disability and that most of the integrated students are able to integrate academically. To date, there is no literature on the efficiency of academic inclusion from the perspective of educational counselors. However, studies have assessed academic difficulties among students with special needs from teachers' perspectives (Avissar, 2002;Bashara et al., 2008;Krämer et al., 2021). Socially, the interviewees reported that some of the difficulties stem from the disability itself. Several studies have indicated that students with disabilities may struggle to connect with their peers as a result of their disability (Bashara et al., 2008;Bossaert et al., 2013;Vlachou et al., 2016). Other studies, however, suggest that the actual integration in the classroom favors students with special needs socially (Arbouet Harte, 2010;Avissar, 2002). It is possible that in the eyes of the educational counselors, their social needs and related difficulties are more important than their academic difficulties.

Limitations
The current study has a number of limitations. Differences between educational counselors in large cities as opposed to outlying areas as well as differences between educational counselors in northern as opposed to southern Israel were not examined. The use of online questionnaires constitutes a limitation in terms of the data analysis regarding the number of questionnaires that were not returned. In total, roughly 500 emails were sent out but only 101 questionnaires were returned. Possible gender influences could not be examined since there were many more female than male counselors. There were different numbers of elementary school and junior high school educational counselors, thus making some results difficult to interpret.

Future Work
The findings point to the need to further study educational counselors in different sectors with varying years of experience. This can help to better assess educational counselors' needs and the difficulties they face. Future work should also examine why parents decide to integrate their children into mainstream education. This may help institutions provide better guidance to parents in making the choice that is most suitable for their children.

Funding
The author received no financial support for the research or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research or publication of this article.


The Trend of Library Development in Indonesia and the Effects on Literacy Skills in Schools

: This study has the purpose of explaining the trend of library development in Indonesia from 2017-2021, studying the significance, and analysing the effects on the development of literacy skills in schools. This study was designed as a quantitative descriptive, comparison, and correlational analysis. The results of this study indicate that the trend of Library Growth in Indonesia continuously increased except in 2018 due to a regrouping policy for primary schools. Secondly, the library growth in Indonesia has shown a significant difference each year in public and private schools. Although in 2018, there was no significant difference in terms of the average percentage of library growth for schools in both public and private environments, what happened in 2019 and 2020 showed different things. Both public and private school libraries have demonstrated significant differences in the average percentage growth of libraries to schools in 2019 and 2020. Even in 2021, the average accumulation percentage of growth in the number of libraries in public schools is already above 90%, while in private schools, it is still below 90%. Lastly, a significant moderate positive relationship between the national average libraries to school ratio and Alibaca Index/Reading Literacy Score means that a library's presence in schools has moderately influenced students' literacy skills.

Introduction
Libraries are essential in education, primarily as students' knowledge sources. As explained by (Fahlefi & Bowo, 2021), the library seeks to support educational programs so that students can optimise their potential and fulfil their learning needs. Specifically, the school library also aims to achieve the objectives of the teaching and learning process in schools. It also functions as a source of information for developing science and technology, and so on.
Definition of the library according to Library Law no. 43 of 2007 Chapter 1 Article 1, a library is an institution that collects printed and recorded knowledge and manages it in a particular way to meet the intellectual needs of its users through various forms of knowledge interaction (Republik Indonesia, 2007). According to (Darmono, 2007), the library is essentially a centre for learning resources and sources of information for its users. The library can be interpreted as a place where books are collected and organised as a medium for student learning. Meanwhile, according to (Wahdinah, 2016), the library as an educational centre means that the school library must function as a "teacher" or learning centre that serves the various needs of students and other school library users. Thus, the position of the school library is also expected to develop students' thinking power rationally and critically. Libraries can also meet students' needs and demands on the sources of learning materials.
Libraries have a vital position in supporting the school literacy movement. It will be successful if it runs holistically where schools, teachers, parents, government, private sector, and libraries must jointly support the school literacy movement (Mulyo Teguh, 2017). Meanwhile, research conducted by (Kastro, 2020) concluded that the school library supported the school literacy movement with all its resources. Through the library, students can add knowledge and apply it in teaching and learning activities (Nopitasari et al., 2021). Similarly, previous studies found that school library supported the development of the literacy program for students including the stages of habituation (getting used to literacy activities), development (advancing literacy activity), and learning (holding literacy club and mandatory to visit the library) (Subur et al., 2022) & (Priasti & Suyatno, 2021)).
Libraries are not only related to buildings and books but also their storage systems, maintenance, users, and how to use and utilise them. In their book, previous research (Miller & McKenna, 2016) says four factors can influence literacy activities: proficiency, access, alternatives, and culture. In this case, the library is part of the access that acts as a supporting resource. Other researchers (Alpian & Ruwaida, 2022) confirmed that a library can foster a love of science and provide complete facilities. Libraries can also be used as a perfect recreation place for students. Even when they have free time at school, students have to get used to reading books in the library (Niswaty et al., 2020). Therefore, the library is an essential pillar in the school literacy movement. Because a library that has complete facilities will make students motivated to read diligently while making the library a fun learning tool.
The literacy movement must be carried out as early as possible because this is the main thing to create an intelligent and cultured nation. The rise of nations began with book enlightenment and a continuous grasp of bearing literacy (Tunardi, 2018). Meanwhile, good literacy skills make learning a foreign language uncomplicated (Akbar, 2017). In addition, mastery of literacy is one of the crucial roles for young people who help develop the country. It is in line with what was stated by (Ratna Rintaningrum, 2019) that reading literacy is essential for self-improvement, personal branding, professional development, schooling, and national development.
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed that in the age range of 15 years, Indonesian students' reading literacy was in 64th out of 72 countries in 2015. Furthermore, in 2018 PISA's score for Indonesia was not much different from the PISA assessment in previous years, where Indonesia was always in the bottom 10 top. That year, Indonesia's PISA results were ranked 74th out of 79 participating countries (OECD, 2019). A similar result from the study conducted in the national scope by the Ministry of Education and Culture reveals that the Alibaca Index is in the category of shallow literacy activity, which is 37.32. The value is composed of four-dimensional indices: the Index Dimension of Skills is 75.92; Access Dimension Index of 23.09; Alternative Dimension Index of 40.49; and Dimension Index Culture of 28.50 (Kemendikbud RI, 2019). Another study also mentioned that the literacy capability of Indonesian schoolchildren is still relatively low and must be improved. It is based on a report from the Educational Assessment Centre (Puspendik) of the Ministry of Education and Culture. Testing fourth-grade elementary school students' reading, math, and science skills, they found that, especially in reading, the results were 46.83% in the poor category, 6.06% in the good category, and 47.11% in the excellent category.
There is still an assumption that the number of libraries and books is still considered sufficient for reading needs. In addition, the problem of reading culture has not been considered a critical problem compared to other problems that are considered more urgent (Mulyo Teguh, 2017). Other researchers revealed that the quality and quantity of school libraries in Indonesia are still minimal with poor conditions. Not all schools can manage libraries professionally. Data from the Central Statistics Agency also reveals that the lowest library-to-school ratio is at the elementary school (SD) level, with only 77 out of 100 schools having school library facilities. The government should pay attention to this, especially at the primary education level, as the beginning where the culture should be fond of reading has started (Badan Pusat Statistik, 2021). In addition to the low number of visits to the library, the lack of variety of reading materials read by students also impacts the everyday reading literacy activity countrywide. In 2019, Central Statistics Agency (BPS) conducted National Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS). It was revealed that only around 13.02% of the society aged five years overcame the library.
A previous study revealed the lack of a library's role as a reading centre. It was also stated that the library sometime functioned as an alternative classroom. Furthermore, the minimum school budget allocation of 5% is still focused on the procurement of textbooks, which are still considered to have minimal contribution to the success of the literacy movement (Hidayah, 2017). In comparison, the School Literacy Movement as a government program can be implemented optimally and sustainably through a sound school library that meets the standards (Kastro, 2020). Another study revealed that the incomplete library collection and the absence of a fixed budget for library development were obstacles to optimising school libraries to improve the quality of learning (Syam, 2019). However, the national library development trend and significance had not been widely explored. Furthermore, studying the relationship between libraries and literacy skills on the national scope is also important to be studied as data for government considerations in making policy. Therefore, the current study aims to explain the trend of library development, study the significance of library development, and analyse the effects library development toward literacy movement in Indonesia.

Research Method
This study was designed as a quantitative descriptive, comparison, and correlational analysis. The data from "Statistik Pendidikan" Catalogue issued by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) were investigated using descriptive statistics to answer the first question about the trend of library growth in Indonesia. For the second question, it was about the significance of library growth in Indonesia. It used a repeated measure ANOVA to study the significance of the national library growth from 2017-2021 from "Statistik Pendidikan" Catalogue issued by the BPS. The last question was about whether the existence of a library affects the increase in literacy scores. It was answered by conducting a correlational study on the library growth data in 2019 and the students' literacy scores based on the Alibaca Index 2019 from all provinces in Indonesia issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Furthermore, this research utilised IBM SPSS 26 statistics software to analyse the data, especially inferential statistics.
This study used secondary data from the official statistics provided BPS by taking annual data of the number of libraries by education level and academic year, the ratio of libraries to the number of schools, and the percentage of libraries to schools at each level of education from "Statistik Pendidikan" Catalogue since 2017 to 2021. Moreover, the literacy index data from the Ministry of Education and Culture was also included in this research.

Results and Discussion The Trend of Library Growth in Indonesia
In this section, we will first look at the development of the number of libraries in public schools. Then the following discussion will look at the development of libraries in private schools.  To answer the second question, IBM SPSS 26 statistics software was used to investigate the significance of the percentage growth of public and private school libraries in Indonesia. We will first look at the significance of library growth in public schools, and then the following discussion will look at the significance of library growth in private schools. Table 3 below shows the percentage of Libraries to Public-School by education level from 2017 until 2021. The normality test was carried out as a primary assumption before inferential statistics for repeated measure ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). Based on Table 4 below, we were able to see that Sig. value data for Shapiro-Wilk tests for standardized residual average percentage of libraries to public-school growth from 2017 to 2021 (.405, .750, .395, .343, .278) > α (.05). We could conclude that the data was normally distributed and met the assumption to run repeated measure ANOVA tests. Furthermore, repeated measure ANOVA was executed in this study to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between the means percentage of libraries in all educational public-school levels from 2017 to 2021. The result indicated that Greenhouse-Geisser Sig. (.004) < .05 means there was a significant difference in the average percentage of libraries to public-school growth from 2017 to 2021 (see Table 5 below). Thus, it can be concluded that during the past four years, the government has been able to significantly carry out developments related to the average percentage of libraries to publicschool growth. The result of the Pairwise Comparison showed the relationship between pairs of means between 2017 to 2021. There was a significant difference in the average percentage of libraries to public schools' growth between 2021 and 2017 (Sig. .022 < .05) at .05 level of significance. However, there was no significant difference in the average percentage of libraries in public schools between 2021 and 2018 (Sig. .176 > .05) at .05 level of significance. Moreover, there was a significant difference in the average percentage of libraries to public schools between 2021 and 2019 (Sig. .012 < .05) at .05 level of significance. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the average percentage of libraries to public schools between 2021 and 2020 (Sig. .048 < .05) at .05 level of significance (see table 6 below). It also means that the average percentage of libraries to public-schools growth is 21% from 2017-2021 (within 4 years), 15.7% from 2018-2021 (within three years), 14.3% from 2019-2021 (within two years), and 7.2% from 2020-2021 (within one year). Figure 1 explains that the sharp growth of the average percentage of the number of libraries to the number of public schools increases every year from 2017 to 2021.

Figure 1. Average Percentage of Libraries to Public-Schools Growth in Indonesia
The following analysis will see the statistical differences in the average percentage of libraries to private schools at each level of education in the 2017-2021 period. Below is table 7, which shows the percentage of Libraries to Private-School by education level from 2017 until 2021. We could conclude that the data was normally distributed and met the assumption to run repeated measure ANOVA tests. Moreover, repeated measure ANOVA was used in this study to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between the means percentage of libraries in all educational private-school levels from 2017 to 2021. The result indicated that Greenhouse-Geisser Sig. (.011) < .05 means there was a significant difference in the average percentage of libraries to private-school growth from 2017 to 2021 (see Table 9 below). Thus, it can be concluded that during the past four years, private-sector education has been able to carry out developments related to the average percentage of libraries to private-school growth significantly at the national level. The  Based on estimated marginal means *. The mean difference is significant at the ,05 level. b. Adjustment for multiple comparisons: Bonferroni.

Figure 2. Average Percentage of Libraries to Private-Schools Growth in Indonesia
From the results of the repeated measure ANOVA tests above, it can be concluded that the average percentage of libraries for both public and private schools experienced significant growth. The considerable difference in average percentage growth of libraries to schools in both public and private school libraries occurred in 2019 and 2020. Meanwhile, the insignificant difference in average percentage growth of libraries to schools occurred in 2018 both for libraries in public and private schools. Furthermore, the average percentage growth in the number of libraries to the number of schools in public schools is higher than that of private schools. Even in 2021, the average accumulation percentage of growth in the number of libraries in public schools is already above 90%, while in private schools, it is still below 90%.

The Relationship Between Libraries and Literacy Scores
The third question in this study will be answered with a correlation test which aims to determine the level of relationship between the percentage of the library to school ratio on students' literacy scores. The percentage of library to school ratio data for all provinces in Indonesia is obtained from the 2019 education statistics report. Meanwhile, literacy score data is obtained from the 34 provinces reading literacy activity index 2019 report by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Data on literacy scores only include reading literacy (Alibaca Index). The literacy term in the Alibaca Index is limited to text reading activities as defined by 'literacy events', i.e., events or activities of subjects in using texts or reading materials (Barton and Hamilton, 2000;Heath and Street, 2008, as cited in (Kemendikbud RI, 2019)).
In (table 11) below, under Alibaca Index Score column, it can be seen that only nine provinces (26%) fall into the category of moderate literacy activity (index number between 40.01 -60.00), namely: Jakarta, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Riau Islands, East Kalimantan, Bali, North Kalimantan, Bangka Belitung Islands, Banten, and North Sulawesi. Furthermore, only one province (3%) is in the deficient or very low category (0 -20.00), namely the province of Papua. The remaining 24 provinces (71%) are in the low category (20.01 -40.00). In other words, most provinces are at a low level of literacy activity, and none are included in the high and very high levels (index values between 60.01 -80.00 and 80.01 -100.00). Then from table 11 above, the Pearson correlation review was accomplished using a two-tailed test to determine the positive or negative relationship between the average percentage of libraries to school's ratio toward Alibaca index score/Reading Literacy Index Score. Pearson's Correlation coefficients (r) are scaled such that they range from -1 to +1, where 0 indicates that there is no linear association. The relationship increases and eventually approaches a straight line (Schober et al., 2018). Several Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) interpret the relationship. They are: negligible correlation (between ± 0.0 to ± 0.30), low correlation (between ± 0.30 to ± 0.50), moderate correlation (between ± 0.50 to ± 0.70), high Correlation (between ± .70 to ± 0.90), and very high correlation (between ± 0.90 to ± 1.00) ( (Hinkle et al., 2003) as cited in (Mukaka, 2012)). The results of the Pearson correlation test can be seen in Table 12 below.  (2-tailed) .000 N 34 34 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
From Table 12 we can conclude that there were significant moderate positive relationships at 0.01 level of significance (2-tailed) between the national average libraries to school ratio and Alibaca Index/Reading Literacy Score (r= .591, p< .01). It also means that a library's presence in schools has moderately influenced students' literacy skills.
These findings support previous research (Miller & McKenna, 2016). They conveyed those four factors (Proficiency, Access, Alternatives, & Culture) have an essential and mutually exclusive role in literacy activities. Thus, considering one aspect will affect the function of the other factors. Access, for example, a library, is a supporting resource where students can take advantage of literacy resources. Another study (Laksono & Retnaningdyah, 2018) also confirmed that library facilities are one of the supporting infrastructures for the school literacy movement. Moreover, the study also revealed that some libraries did not meet the number of enrichment books. Based on the data, from 90 entries, only five (5.5%) meet the standards (check mark), indicating that many students have poor access to books. The current study revealed that public and private schools experienced notable development. Meanwhile, in the 2020/2021 school year, the ratio of libraries to primary schools is still 77%.
The Pearson correlation test revealed that the library's existence in schools has commonly impacted students' literacy skills. It proposed the existence of the library has an essential role in supporting the improvement of literacy skills, especially reading skills. Similar to the previous study ( (Kastro, 2020) & (Adejimoh et al., 2021)), libraries have an influence on students' literacy skills, particularly in terms of improving students' reading skills. Important notes that the libraries are not just a room containing books but a storehouse of knowledge. They needed to be upgraded following the times and the needs of their readers.
Furthermore, the present study also offers some implications for central government leaders that allow them to confidently determine policies for accelerating library development, especially for primary schools. It is because until 2020/2021 school year, the ratio of libraries to schools was still in the range of 77%. It means that two to three out of 10 public schools do not yet have a library. Moreover, the government might also pay more attention to improving the quality of libraries in terms of infrastructure and human resources/librarians to improve the quality of libraries as a means of supporting student literacy improvement.

Conclusion
The current study used secondary data, the percentage of libraries to schools at each level of education, from "Statistik Pendidikan" Catalogue from 2017 to 2021 issued by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). Furthermore, the literacy index data 2019 from the Ministry of Education and Culture was also included in this study. Several highlights should be underlined. First of all, the trend of Library Growth in Indonesia continuously increased except in 2018 due to a regrouping policy for primary schools. Secondly, the library growth in Indonesia has shown a significant difference each year in public and private schools. Although in 2018, there was no significant difference in terms of the average percentage of library growth for schools in both public and private environments, what happened in 2019 and 2020 showed different things. Both public and private school libraries have demonstrated significant differences in the average percentage growth of libraries to schools in 2019 and 2020. Even in 2021, the average accumulation percentage of growth in the number of libraries in public schools is already above 90%, while in private schools, it is still below 90%. Lastly, a significant moderate positive relationship between the national average libraries to school ratio and Alibaca Index/Reading Literacy Score means that a library's presence in schools has moderately influenced students' literacy skills.
Finally, some limitations to the present study and recommendations for further studies should be declared. The data analysis was limited since it was only the secondary data used in this study, then it cannot be anticipated and is beyond the authority of this study. Next, the limitations of the data in this study can also be seen in the year used for the literacy score results. It was 2019 data, before the pandemic. Related to the data on the number of schools, school libraries, and school library management officers are still limited to schools under the authority of the Ministry of Education and Culture. It does not include Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (primary schools), Tsanawiyah (junior high schools), and Aliyah (senior high school), which are under the authority of the Ministry of Religion.

Recommendation
Recommendations for further studies employing the latest literacy score data may reveal new facts and provide different outcomes. Moreover, other researchers or practitioners could also conduct a regression test to see which factors other than the library influence increasing students' literacy skills. In addition, the role of the library and the creation of a comfortable reading room atmosphere for improving literacy learning can still be explored qualitatively. For central government or policy maker, they can continue the library development program, especially at the elementary school level, so that the ratio of the number of schools and libraries is proper.