EDUCATION CONTEXT EXP

Question 1

Rosenthal and Jacobson (Field Experiments and Teacher Expectations)-

Answer 1

• Carried out their ‘Pygmalion in the classroom’ experiment in 1968 at a Californian primary school named ‘Oak School’.
• Pupils were given an IQ test and teachers were told that this had enabled the researchers to identify the
• 20% of pupils who were likely to ‘spurt’ in the next year, which was made up.
• They wanted to plant expectations in the minds of the teachers and see if this effected pupil performance.
• Due to these ‘spurters’ being randomly chosen, the only factor in educational improvement would be a teachers expectation.
• All pupils were re-tested eight months later and again a year later, which found that regular pupils gained around 8 IQs points, and the spurters gained around 12.
• This was found mostly in ages 6-8, and worked better after a year in ages 10-11.

Question 2

Eval (Claiborn, Ethical and Validity Issues)-

Answer 2

• Claiborn used observation to test these theories as Rosenthal and Jacobson did not carry out said observation in class.
• They found no evidence of teacher expectations being passed on through classroom interactions.
• However, even with the evidence collected by Rosenthal and Jacobson, there is still ethical issues as the 80% of those not identified as ‘spurters’ did not benefit at all, with some potentially being held back educationally as they received less support and encouragement from teachers.
• This experiment is also unlikely to be carried out again as not only are there more laws protecting children, but this experiment involves deception, which again is unethical and could raise questions.

Question 3

Harvey and Slatin (Laboratory Experiments and Teacher Expectations)-

Answer 3

• Examined 96 teachers to test whether they had preconceived ideas about pupils of different social classes.
  Each teacher was shown 18 photographs of children from different social class backgrounds, and to control other variables, the photographs were equally divided in terms of gender and ethnicity.
• The teachers were asked to rate the children on their performance, parental attitudes to education and aspirations.
• They found that lower-class children were rated less favourably, especially by more experienced teachers.
• These teachers based these ratings on the similarities they perceived between the children in these pictures and ones they’ve already taught, indicating that teachers label pupils from different social classes and use these labels to pre-judge pupils’ potential.

Question 4

Eval (Practical and Artificial Problems)-

Answer 4

• Conducting experiments on teachers’ expectations in schools is hard as schools are large, complex institutions in which many variables may affect teacher expectations (Hawthorne).
• The type of school and class size shall also most likely affect performance, and also because laboratory experiments are done in small-scale laboratories, not every ‘big picture factor’ can easily be explored
• The artificiality of these labs also means that it tells little about the real world, and so because factors are being substituted (e.g. Charkin, teachers replaced with university students), it becomes less valid.