Effects of School on Children's

Child and Adolescent Attainment, Attitudes and Behaviour

Development – • Heyns (1978) carried out a longitudinal
School Influences study on children aged 11-12 years.
• Information was collected through tests
and interviews and the effect of schooling
estimated by contrasting gains when
Dr Sau Yin LAU
schools were open with those when they
The Open University of Hong Kong were closed.
EDU E253F
Spring Term 2020
• In addition, children's summer activities
were studied to assess the relative impact
of summer schools, family holidays and
library use.

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Effects of Pre-school Education on Effects of School on Children's

Children’s Development Attainment, Attitudes and Behaviour
• A study conducted by Lee, Brooks-Gunn • Results showed that:
and Schnur (1988) compared the • The rates of learning were higher during
outcomes of 969 disadvantaged children the school year than during the vacation.
who had experienced three different pre- • Learning rates of children were contingent
school environments: on socioeconomic status more directly
• Head Start (an American project that during the summer than when schools are
provided pre-school programme in which in session.
many children came from families of • Students from relatively advantaged
serious social disadvantage including background learned at a faster rate during
lower levels of income and education); the school year as well as the summer.
• some other pre-school programme;
• no pre-school programme/education
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Effects of Pre-school Education on Effects of School on Children's

Children’s Development Attainment, Attitudes and Behaviour
• At school entry, large initial differences on • Results showed that:
a wide range of outcomes were found with • The single summer activity most strongly
Head Start children lower on almost all and consistently related to learning was
measures. reading which had a substantial effect on
• Head Start children showed larger gains achievement, largely independent of family
on measures of social and cognitive background.
functioning compared with children in the • Sex and distance from the library were
other two groups. more important predictors for reading than
family social status.
• It was suggested that pre-school
intervention was particularly effective for
the most disadvantaged children.

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OU C&A Dev p.1

 Effects of School on Children's Effects of School on Children's
Attainment, Attitudes and Behaviour Attainment, Attitudes and Behaviour
• Although the study showed that • It is thus suggested that school does have
schooling made a significant contribution influence on children’s development.
to cognitive growth, schools did not
equalize outcomes in an absolute sense.
• The gap between black and white
children, and between more or less
disadvantaged children, widened
disproportionately during the summer.
• Heyns hypothesised that higher status
children were not as dependent on
schooling for their learning as those from
disadvantaged backgrounds.

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Effects of School on Children's

Attainment, Attitudes and Behaviour Teacher Expectation
• Some other studies investigated the • Teacher expectation and self fulfilling
impact of schooling is to compare the prophecy are terms associated with the
effect of different schools on the hypothesis that teachers create realities
development of their pupils whilst commensurate with their perceptions of
controlling for intake ability. students.
• Scheerens & Creemers (1989) and Fraser • It is suggested that teachers act on their
(1989) showed that some schools perceptions about individuals so as to
promoted positive effects and others provide differential treatment to them, and
negative ones. that such treatment can interact with
students’ self perceptions to produce
expected outcomes.

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Effects of School on Children's

Attainment, Attitudes and Behaviour Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Some researchers studied school • Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)
effectiveness and found that: conducted a classic experiment on
• Scholastic attainment varies considerably teacher expectations in the classroom.
amongst schools regardless of the • They administered an IQ test to
individual and social characteristics of elementary school children and told their
pupils entering them (Rutter et al., 1979) teachers that the results of the test would
• School characteristics influence their pupils' be a reliable predictor of which children
attitudes to school, as measured in would show rapid intellectual
attendance and their feelings about classes development in the near future (the
and subjects (Mortimore et al., 1988). bloomers).
• Effective schools influence antisocial
behaviour (Gray et al., 1983).

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OU C&A Dev p.2

 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• The teachers were given the names of the
20 bloomers.
• But in fact, those 20 students were
chosen randomly and there were no IQ
difference between the bloomers and the
non-bloomers.
• Very soon, the teachers rated the non-
bloomers as being less curious, less
interested and less happy than the
bloomers.

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• IQ tests were administered again to all • Rosenthal and Jacobson argued that
students in the class at the end of the reality could be influenced by the
school year. expectations of others.
• Results showed that the bloomers • Thus, the prophecy about the students’
showed a significantly greater IQ than the intellectual development could be self-
non-bloomers. fulfilling.
• Rosenthal and Jacobson suggested that
teachers’ perception of the students
affected their expectations on the
students.

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• The teachers treated the two groups of • Effects of teacher expectations were also
students differently according to their found at class level.
expectations of the two groups.
• Rubie-Davies (2006) found that in
• The attitude and behaviour of two groups classrooms where teachers held lower
of students were then affected. expectations, students’ Maths and reading
• The teachers’ perception of the two self concept declined. In classrooms
groups of students were further where teachers held higher expectations,
strengthened. students’ Maths and reading self concept
increased.

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OU C&A Dev p.3

 Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• In some follow up studies, e.g. Brophy
and Good (1970), interaction between the
teacher and the students were observed
and analysed.
• Some of those studies found that:
• Teachers favoured high-expectation
students by demanding and reinforcing
quality performance.

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Some studies found that:
• When low-expectation students gave
wrong answers they were less likely to
receive specific feedback; when they gave
right answers they were less likely to
receive praise.
• High-expectation students volunteered
more answers, initiated more contacts with
their teachers, raised their hands more
often, and had fewer reading problems
than their low expectation peers

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OU C&A Dev p.4