| Abstract: | The influence of teachers upon pupil performance has been acknowledged in other studies as setting in motion a ‘self‐fulfilling prophecy’. But this informal segregation of children into good and bad academic prospects is in part determined by the headteacher's beliefs about the pupils’ potential achievement during and after their school lives. By setting different levels of expectation throughout the school the headteacher may impose upon certain sets of children a diminished self‐concept. To a significant extent, therefore, the headteacher predetermines the child's developing image of himself not only as a pupil but as a person. |
