Immigrant and host pupils' expectations of teachers

This study examined expectations of teachers on the part of immigrant pupils and their host peers, as well as the expectations which members of each of these groups attribute to their counterparts in the other group. Questionnaires were administered to 1710 pupils in Israeli primary and secondary schools - 610 immigrants from the former Soviet Union and 1100 of their classmates. Immigrant and host respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they expected their teachers to meet criteria in the areas of help and assistance, teaching competence, and fairness; they also assessed the extent to which these teacher characteristics are important for members of the other group. Results showed greater expectations for help among host pupils, and greater expectations for competence among their immigrant peers. It was also found that host pupils believe teachers' help to be more important to the immigrants than is actually the case; conversely, immigrants tend to underestimate the importance of help to their host peers. These findings were explained in terms of both cultural differences between the groups and aspects of the immigrants' situation.