In a certain insightful article splashed in the Reader’s Digest — putative Harvard psychologist, Robert Rosenthal, wondered whether some children perform poorly in school because their teachers’ expectation. Dr. Robert H. Schuller writes about it in his heroic book titled ‘You Can Be the Person You Want to Be’.
Ideally, Robert Rosenthal contended that the positive expectation of teachers towards learners entices peak performance. This polymath was ready to try his theory in actual classrooms. Therefore, he issued a test on learning ability to students in a particular school.
Later, after the grading of the tests, teachers were casually given the monikers of five or six learners in each new class who were designated as ‘spurters’ — possessing exceptional learning abilities.
Somewhat, teachers were not aware that the picking of names happened a head of the test on a completely random basis. The difference between the few learners chosen and the other children existed only in the minds of teachers.
Again, the same tests taken at the end of the school years revealed that the ‘spurters’ had actually soared far ahead of the other children. Teachers described them as happy learners. They were also more curious, more affectionate and had better chances of attaining peak performance.
Somehow, the school worked only on one core component of learning — attitude, which is equal to mindset plus belief. Done on a positive note, when teachers expected more from a section of students, they reciprocated by expecting more from themselves.
Ipso facto, Robert Rosenthal later concluded that the explanation was on the subtle interaction between the teachers and learners, which encompassed tone of voice, facial expressions, touch and posture. All these components, blended well to explain the expectations teachers had on learners. The perception of learners changed, and they thought of reaching and touching the acme of academic excellence.
Actually, this forms the provenance of the Rosenthal Effect. In other credible sources of knowledge, Pygmalion Effect applies instead of it. Its opposite is Golem Effect. Pygmalion Effect is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area. The effect is associated with the Greek myth of Pygmalion — the sculptor who fell so much in love with the perfectly beautiful statue he created. The admiration he had for the statue made it come to life.
Now, based on this frame of logic, you know why some schools stand out without cheating on their way to the epic peak of performance. In some schools we celebrate as veritable academic giants, teachers expect a lot from learners. Again, teachers know how to communicate every bit of it.
Conversely, we also pointed out that the opposite of Rosenthal or Pygmalion Effect is Golem Effect. The latter effect describes the process where superiors — such as Principals and teachers anticipate low performance from their subordinates — such as staff and students. This, of course, causes poor performance. In Hasidic Mythology, the Golem was a creature built from clay and made of mud. It was to serve its master. This was a very serious joke.
Therefore, managers and educators who believe in Golem Effect know that given the opportunity, people they are to help will bring out trouble and destruction. Indeed, their low expectation on people eventually come true. School leaders who contribute to Golem Effect wrongly believe that certain teachers lack the skillset and learners lack the right mindset to help the school access academic success.
Then, there is another self-fulfilling prophesy called Galatea Effect, where raising an individual’s self-efficacy results in an increase in performance. Galatea Effect only occurs when there is an actual increase in self-efficacy, as well as an increase in performance. Self-efficacy is one of the core-competencies in the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).
Basic Education Curriculum Framework (BECF, 2019) defines self-efficacy as people’s belief about their capabilities to perform tasks or assignments that can transform their lives. Digging deeper, self-efficacy has the potential to determine four major processes, namely: cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes.
© Victor Ochieng’
The writer builds the capacity of teachers on Best Academic Practices. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
Get more stories from our website: Education News
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
