Abstract:
The self-fulfilling prophecy is an important aspect of education that every pre-service and in-service teacher should be aware of. When teachers make expectations, they are conveyed to the students through numerous factors. The self-fulfilling prophecy is defined by Edward K. Merton to be "a false definition of a situation evoking a new behavior which makes the original false conception true" (Tauber, 1997). The expectations that teachers form are based upon a student's race, gender, socioeconomic status, body build, attractiveness, ethnicity, special education labels, surname, dialect, and past school experiences or records. There have been numerous studies over the years that have shown the positive and negative impacts that these expectations have on children. It has also been proven that teachers who are educated about the self-fulfilling prophecy and how to successfully manipulate it can greatly improve student academic success. There are five critical steps in which a teacher's expectations impact a child through climate, feedback, input, and output. Some ways that teachers can use the self-fulfilling prophecy to help students believe in themselves include leveling the playing field, changing what they can for the students and themselves, and treating students with respect.
