Study on how teachers' perceptions affect students

SINGAPORE - Is there a difference in being taught by teachers who think their students can no longer do better, and those who believe the class is yet to reach its potential?

That is the question Professor John Wang is trying to answer, as part of his new study to understand if a teacher's preconceived notions affect students.

"All of us have certain perceptions towards people, and it's the same for teachers," said Prof Wang, who co-leads the Motivation in Educational Research Lab (Merl) of the National Institute of Education (NIE).

"Teachers respond according to their beliefs. Some enter a class and think the students cannot be helped beyond a certain level, while others believe they can."

He explained that studies have shown that students who believe they can improve will "work their hardest", unlike those who think they have reached their limit.

The $248,000 study, which is funded by the Ministry of Education and is believed to be the first of its kind here, wants to see if this is true for teachers, and if their attitudes can affect a student's motivation and grades, especially those who are academically weaker.

The ongoing study started collecting data in May. Over two months, Prof Wang, 46, and eight NIE researchers surveyed 10,000 Secondary 1 to 3 Normal stream students from 30 secondary schools. They were asked a series of questions, including how they felt about their teachers and the feedback they received.

Some 200 teachers were also asked to indicate the kind of words, for instance "improvement" and "potential", they used when giving feedback to their students. The team will collect more information from 2,000 students and 80 teachers in September and October. Preliminary findings will be out by the end of this year.

The study is one of the projects undertaken by Merl, which was set up in 2009 to study what affects a student's motivation. The lab, which has embarked on nine studies so far, also aims to translate knowledge into practice by encouraging interaction between teachers and researchers.

Said Prof Wang: "Most of the time they don't talk to each other. Researchers research... and give recommendations. Teachers use methods that work through experience, without any underpinning theoretical knowledge.

"But teachers should... read about research and try out different ideas. On the other end, researchers need to better understand the constraints of the school environment and classroom."

To that end, Merl has co-organised a conference for teachers and researchers to learn from each other. Some 500 of them are expected to attend the three-day event, which starts today.

It is the first collaboration between NIE, the Educational Research Association of Singapore and the International SELF Research Centre.

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