Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

TEACHERS’ SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES AND EDUCATIONAL OUTCOME

School is an integral process of socialization that teaches students about standards, expectations, behaviours and skills necessary to prepare them for success in their social roles. The classroom environment should be one of equal opportunity, however, many factors can facilitate the learning potential and disengagement of students. Teachers help construct and reinforce stereotypes and stigmatization that can impact students’ future educational opportunities. Early educational influences are important because culture within school conditions students for the roles they’ll serve in larger society (Gerald 2005). The research question investigated in this essay focuses on what influences teachers’ expectations have in creating self-fulfilling prophecies and what affects these prophecies hold on student learning outcome. This essay will examine the basis of teachers’ expectations, how teacher demographic relates to student performance, and the different socio-economic factors that aide in the self-fulfilling prophecy.

Origins of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Research studies have been successful in supporting Merton’s analysis, but sociologists have argued the power of the prophecy. While individual results of self-fulfilling prophecy tend to be low, the collective power of individual self-fulfilling prophecies can be much more influential; “if you say something is true and the larger community agrees, it is true for all practical consequences” (Wiley 2003:507). The impacts of self-fulfilling prophecies as a collective whole can carry with students into adulthood; influencing the success they will have in the workplace. Schools therefore hold a vital function in socialization, responsible for preparing children for the skills necessary to succeed in their future