Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Pre-Service Teacher Expectations & Mindset: Is There a Relation?

Teacher expectations are beliefs that are formed about the potential academic performance of students. These expectations lead to teachers categorizing students based on their ability-high ability (students having potential of high academic achievement) and low ability (students having potential of low academic performance). Past research on teacher expectations has mainly focused on the process through which teacher expectations influence the perceptions they have towards high ability and low ability students. Limited research has focused on expectations of pre-service teachers and how their perceptions including their mindset influences their outlook towards the potential academic performance of students. Understanding pre-service teacher's mindset is important as they will be future full-time teachers and the type of mindset (growth versus fixed) will influence their pedagogical practices as well as the perceptions they form based on the academic ability of the students. In this paper, the mindset of 41 pre-service teachers were examined in the context of their expectations they have towards low ability and high ability students. Preliminary results showed that pre-service teachers having a growth mindset had higher expectations from low ability students than pre-service teachers having fixed mindset.