An example of the teacher expectation effect in mixed ability teaching

Abstract

Much interest has been shown recently in teacher expectation or “self‐fulfilling prophecy” effects, despite the difficulty of making objective observations of the phenomenon. The present case study concerns a population of twelve mixed‐ability chemistry classes in a comprehensive school in the U.K. The poor behavior of one of the groups led to a stigma being attached to it by staff, and for various doubtful reasons, this became associated with another class as well. A statistical analysis of examination marks shows that neither reputation was justified in terms of academic achievement, and quantifies possible teacher expectation effects arising from the situation. The findings demonstrate the ease with which academic achievements can be hampered unwittingly by the prejudices of a teacher even in a well‐structured learning situation.

The Educational Expectation of Looked after Children

“…They may therefore be particularly susceptible to the Pygmalion Effect (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968). Matthews (1982) demonstrated how a preconceived idea is more likely to be the cause of teacher expectation effects than actual observed performance. She investigated classes that had reputations for bad behaviour and academic failure in some subjects, but on pre-test scores were found to demonstrate a normal distribution of ability in chemistry.…”

“…There are several criticisms that can be made jointly of all of the research. Firstly, due to the nature of the phenomenon under investigation many of the methods used to gather data were observational (Chaikin et al, 1974;Good and Brophy, 1977;Matthews, 1982). Although in most cases efforts were made to ensure interrater reliability, observational studies leave a big margin for individual differences of observers and behaviours may be noted because they are looked for, which is indeed another form of expectation effect.…”

“…Recognising the interaction between expectation and attainment, the study outlined in this paper attempted to determine whether teachers have lower expectations of the looked after children they teach than of those who are not looked after by local authorities. Expectation research to date has been limited by its narrow focus on academic attainment (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968;Chaikin et al, 1974;Good and Brophy, 1977;Matthews, 1982). Therefore in order to gain a richer picture of the expectation of looked after children, four other issues that contribute to the learning environment have been highlighted.…”

Analyse longitudinale de l’effet Pygmalion

“…Citons, entre autres, les études de Clifton (1981) sur des élèves ontariens, de Matthews (1982) sur des élèves anglais du secondaire et de St-George (1983) sur des élèves du primaire de NouvelleZélande.…”