Primary school teachers' perceptions of their pupils

Abstract

The thesis consists of a review of the psychological "basis of person perception, together with an empirical investigation into the classifications which primary school teachers use to conceptualise their pupils. An analysis of the process of person perception was undertaken- followed by an examination of the historical and philosophical background to the present day theories. This was succeeded by a general review of research into the effects of personality variables on perception which provided a context for a more specific analysis of the research into perception and teaching. The empirical enquiry consisted of the administration of the Full Context Form of the Repertory Grid to 48 primary school teachers in the English Midlands with their pupils as subjects. Their phenomenal classifications were thus obtained and an analysis was undertaken into the effects of dogmatism, formality and sex of teacher on the structure and' contents of the Repertory Grids. The results obtained showed that sex and dogmatism of teacher were significantly related to the contents and structure of the Repertory Grids. The last part of the study consisted of a complex analysis of variance to ascertain the interactive effects on the teachers’ classifications of the pupils’ position in class, sex and social class, and the teachers’ level of formality and sex. Results indicated that of the three pupil variables chosen the social class background was the least important influence on the teachers' perceptions, and this raises doubts as to the ubiquity of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in accounting for working class underachievement. However significant interaction effects did reveal that differential expectations were held by teachers for particular groups of children of comparable ability, and that these differences were due as much to the influence of teacher variables as to those of the pupils.