Pygmalion Effect in the Teaching Profession....

Pygmalion Effect in the context of Education

In the Lecture of Dr. Mandi, teaching methodology takes its new level altogether. This gives students the chance to explore and achieve a new level. I would like talk about how the teaching can be changed with the help of the some tools.

It's a fact. Limited expectations bring limited results, high expectations lead to exceptional results. The phenomenon is known as the Pygmalion Effect and it has been documented numerous times in both business and education.

In the video, trainees get a complete overview of the Pygmalion Effect of scenes from the classic movie "Pygmalion," where individuals are transformed through the positive (or negative) expectations of another. The four ways managers transmit expectations to their subordinates - climate, feedback, input and output.

There is a need for the managers to:

• Understand how positive/negative expectations create self-fulfilling prophecies
• Develop the skills to positively influence co-workers and subordinates
• Raise the expectations they have for their staff members
• Believe more in their own ability to positively influence and lead others

I would like to relate this effect to the teaching methodology, as it is one of the primary area where the child can be developed for a great future. In the context of teaching, many scientists had done research. In The Skilful Teacher: Building your Teaching Skills, Saphier &Gower (1997) offer six desirable qualities for the communication of expectations: 

 

Teaching Methodology with Strict Approach

1. Direct: The expectation is explicitly brought to student's attention, usually verbally 

2. Specific: The details of the expectation for students' performance are clearly stated or otherwise specified in the communication (which may be written or not verbal) 

3. Repeated: The expectation is repeated often to make sure students absorb it. 

4. Positive expectancy: The statement of expectation has a "you can do it" flavour.

5. Modelled: The teacher performs the behaviour as a model of what do. 

6. Tenacity: The teacher is repetitious and consistent in their expectations of the student. 

Reaserchers had also tried to find out the ways for implementing the effect in actual teaching and come out with some solutions. One of the researcher had given some really practical solutions.

To maximize positive expectations and reduce negative expectations Brophy (1983) suggests seven teaching strategies. The seven teaching strategies are as follows:

1. Concentrate on how to teach the content to the class or group as a whole, rather than worry too much about individual differences

2. Keep expectations for individual current by monitoring their progress closely; stress present performance over past history

3. Set goals for the group and for individuals in terms of minimally acceptable standards; let group progress rates, rather than limits adopted arbitrarily in advance, determine how far the group can go within the time available.

4. In individualizing instruction and giving students feedback about performance, stress continuous progress relative to previous levels of mastery rather than normative comparison or comparisons between individuals. In planning and delivering instruction, concentrate on students' present levels of understanding and mastery and their implications for present instructional needs, rather than on who the students are individually and how they are doing relative to one another.

5. In giving students feedback, stress the provision of informative information, and not merely evaluation of success or failure

6. When students have not understood an explanation or demonstration, think in terms of diagnosing their learning difficulty and following through by breaking down the task or re teaching it in a different way, rather than merely repeating the same instruction or giving up in frustration .

 7. In general, think in terms of stretching them and encouraging them to achieve as much as they can, and not in terms of "protecting" them from failure or embarrassment.

Following these suggestions creates an environment where students know what is expected of them and have confidence that the teacher believes that they can meet teacher expectations with success