Alchemy of the classroom

In Greek mythology, Pygmalion is a sculptor who falls in love with his statue when his creation comes to life. George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, which premiered 110 years ago, is centred on Dr Higgins, the egotistical professor of phonetics who sets out to train his Cockney subject, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess.

But beyond Shaw’s humour and farce is a powerful lesson for teachers. For Pygmalion, at its core, is about the power of education to transform lives and the power of knowledge to bring about societal change.

There is a compelling theory in education, known as the Pygmalion effect. The effect, noted in numerous studies, is that a teacher’s expectations heavily influence students’ performance. Also known as the Rosenthal effect, it was first studied by the team of Robert Rosenthal, a Harvard psychologist, and Lenore Jacobson, a school principal. They caused a stir in the world of education when they published their findings in 1968 under the title, ‘Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectation and Pupils’ Intellectual Development’.

Rosenthal and Jacobson administered an intelligence test to all students at an elementary school at the beginning of the academic year. They then randomly selected 20 per cent of the students without any correlation whatsoever to their test results and labelled them as students with ‘unusual potential for intellectual growth’. They named these children ‘academic spurters’. The feedback was provided to the teachers and, perhaps not surprisingly, they began to perceive their students differently.

Eight months later, when the duo returned and administered a test to the same children, the ‘academic spurters’ were found to have performed much better than the rest of their class and showed, on average, an increase of more than 12 points above their peers on their IQ test scores!

Clearly, the teacher creates a climate for learning and the student’s success is directly proportional to the former’s expectations. The standards teachers set influence student behaviour.

The ancients were convinced that there was a substance, the Philosopher’s Stone, which had the capability of transforming base metals into gold. Education does this on a daily basis. It is in our schools and in our classrooms that the ordinary is transformed into the extraordinary. It is teachers who are the shapers and polishers of that alchemy. It may well be argued that the Pygmalion effect is nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy. What is indisputable is that when the teacher’s expectations are communicated positively to the learner, a change for the better occurs. Indeed, the very reason to set the bar high is to bring out the best in our students.