Perceptions of Teachers' Expectations as Predictors of Pupils' Academic Self-Concept Among Non-Formal Primary School Pupils in Ruaraka, Division, Nairobi County, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to explore if perceptions of teachers’ expectations predicted pupils’ academic self-concept. There is evidence to suggest that primary school pupils’ performance in national public examinations in Kenya, especially those from poor backgrounds and learning in non-formal schools, is skewed towards the poorer mean scores. The poor performance has been mainly ascribed to school ecological factors and minimum research has been carried out on psychological influences which may account for pupils’ academic achievement. Pupils’ behavior and academic performance is greatly influenced by the expectations teachers form about them. When teachers express messages of differential expectations, this confirms the self-fulfilling prophecies. The outcome of self-fulfilling prophecy is an important affective variable in academic self-concept formation of pupils. The study adopted an ex post-facto research design. The study sample consisted of 367 pupils from 10 non-formal schools. Stratified, systematic and purposive procedures were used in the selection of schools and participants. Research instruments used to collect study data included pupils’ questionnaire and academic self-concept ladders. Perception of Teachers Expectation Scale was adapted to measure perception of teachers’ expectations and the 10-step ability ladder was modified to measure academic self-concept. The study findings provided evidence that pupils’ perceptions of teachers’ expectations significantly predicted their academic self-concept. A major recommendation of the study was that teachers, parents and other stakeholders in education should collaborate in creating favourable school and home environments for nurturing the development of positive academic self-concept among non-formal primary school pupils. The study further recommended that teachers should be conversant with the diversity of issues and sensitivity when handling pupils in order to ensure that they interact with them in ways that nurture optimism and motivation important factors in the development of positive academic self-concept