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Unlock This CourseThe way teachers perceive and interact with students can have a profound impact on educational outcomes. Teacher expectations refer to the beliefs teachers hold about a student's ability to achieve academically and behave appropriately in the classroom.
Key Definitions:
Teacher expectations can significantly influence how students perform in school. When teachers expect certain students to do well, they often provide more encouragement, give more challenging work and offer more detailed feedback. This special attention can lead to improved performance, confirming the teacher's initial expectations.
The self-fulfilling prophecy in education occurs when a teacher's belief about a student's abilities causes that student to perform in ways that confirm the belief. For example, if a teacher believes a student is bright, they might give them more opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge, leading to improved performance.
One of the most famous studies on teacher expectations was conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson in 1968, known as the "Pygmalion in the Classroom" study.
Rosenthal and Jacobson told teachers that certain randomly selected students (about 20% of the class) were likely to show significant intellectual growth during the year based on a special test. In reality, these students were chosen completely at random and had taken a standard IQ test.
Results: At the end of the year, the students who had been randomly labelled as "intellectual bloomers" showed significantly greater gains in IQ scores compared to the control group. This demonstrated that teacher expectations alone could influence student performance.
This became known as the "Pygmalion Effect" or "Rosenthal Effect" – when higher expectations lead to higher performance.
Teacher expectations can influence student achievement through various mechanisms:
Teachers may communicate different expectations through tone of voice, facial expressions and the amount of time they wait for responses from different students.
Students perceived as high-achievers often receive more detailed, constructive feedback that helps them improve, while lower-expectation students may receive less helpful feedback.
Teachers may provide more challenging learning opportunities and leadership roles to students they expect to excel, limiting growth opportunities for others.
Labelling theory, developed by sociologists like Howard Becker, helps explain how teacher expectations can become self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom.
Labelling in education typically follows this pattern:
When students are negatively labelled (e.g., "troublemaker," "slow learner"), they may develop a negative self-concept and reduced motivation. This can lead to disengagement from education, resulting in poorer academic outcomes and potentially deviant behaviour as students seek alternative sources of status and recognition.
Positive labels (e.g., "gifted," "bright") can boost confidence and motivation, leading to increased effort and achievement. However, they can also create pressure and anxiety if students feel they must constantly live up to high expectations.
Teacher expectations aren't formed randomly. Several factors can influence how teachers perceive students:
Research shows teachers often have higher expectations for middle-class students compared to working-class students, potentially due to assumptions about family support, cultural capital and future aspirations.
Studies have found that teacher expectations can vary based on students' ethnic backgrounds, sometimes reflecting unconscious biases or stereotypes about certain groups' academic abilities.
Teachers may hold different expectations for boys and girls in specific subjects (e.g., expecting boys to excel in maths and science and girls in languages and humanities).
David Gillborn and Deborah Youdell studied how schools in England allocated educational resources and opportunities. They found that schools often engaged in what they called "educational triage" – focusing resources on students they believed could improve their grades from D to C (which would improve school league table positions).
Students who teachers believed were unlikely to achieve this benchmark received less attention and support. This process disproportionately affected working-class and some ethnic minority students, showing how teacher expectations can lead to institutional practices that reinforce educational inequalities.
Recognising the powerful impact of teacher expectations, educators and schools can take steps to ensure expectations support rather than limit student achievement:
While research clearly shows teacher expectations can influence student outcomes, it's important to consider some limitations:
Multiple studies across different contexts have confirmed the existence of expectation effects. The Pygmalion study has been replicated numerous times and qualitative research provides rich insights into how expectations shape classroom interactions.
Some critics argue that the effect size of teacher expectations may be overstated. Others note that teacher expectations might sometimes reflect accurate assessments of student abilities rather than causing differences in achievement. Additionally, student resilience and other factors can sometimes overcome negative expectations.
Understanding how teacher expectations operate in schools is crucial for addressing educational inequalities. By recognising the power of expectations, teachers can work to ensure they provide all students with the support and opportunities they need to reach their full potential.