What’s in a name: the effect of category labels on teachers’ beliefs

Gibbs, Simon; Beckmann, Jens F.; Elliott, Julian; Metsäpelto, Riitta-Leena; Vehkakoski, Tanja; Aro, Mikko

doi:10.1080/08856257.2019.1652441

What’s in a name: the effect of category labels on teachers’ beliefs

Gibbs, Simon; Beckmann, Jens F.; Elliott, Julian; Metsäpelto, Riitta-Leena; Vehkakoski, Tanja; Aro, Mikko

Authors

Simon Gibbs

Professor Jens Beckmann j.beckmann@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Julian Elliott

Riitta-Leena Metsäpelto

Tanja Vehkakoski

Mikko Aro

Abstract

In this paper, we report an investigation of the possible influence on teachers’ essentialist thinking and efficacy beliefs of category labels used to describe children’s educational difficulties. A 2x2x2 counterbalanced design was employed in which primary school teachers in Finland and the UK were exposed to vignettes that portrayed a child exhibiting difficulties in one of two domains: either behaviour or reading. Vignettes were presented in two versions. In one, the child was labelled as having either ‘ADHD’ or ‘Dyslexia’; in the alternate condition, no such label was ascribed, descriptions were identical in all other respects. Participating teachers were presented with two vignettes, one from each domain and in each condition. Responses to measures of Efficacy and Essentialist beliefs were solicited. Overall responses indicated that category labels evoked stronger essentialist beliefs but did not influence teachers’ efficacy beliefs. Finnish teachers reported stronger essentialist and lower efficacy beliefs than their counterparts in the UK.

Citation

Gibbs, S., Beckmann, J. F., Elliott, J., Metsäpelto, R., Vehkakoski, T., & Aro, M. (2020). What’s in a name: the effect of category labels on teachers’ beliefs. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 35(1), 115--127. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2019.1652441

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 25, 2019
Online Publication Date	Aug 18, 2019
Publication Date	2020
Deposit Date	Sep 3, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Feb 18, 2021
Journal	European Journal of Special Needs Education
Print ISSN	0885-6257
Electronic ISSN	1469-591X
Publisher	Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	35
Issue	1
Pages	115--127
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2019.1652441

Files

Accepted Journal Article (355 Kb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European journal of special needs education on 18 August 2019 available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/08856257.2019.1652441