Consulting for Improved Self Perceptions of Elementary School Children.

This paper investigated the consulting role of the elementary school counselor. A six-week training program was instituted which allows teachers to examine their own classroom behaviors through observing and analyzing video-tapes. An evaluation of the program impact on the pupil population indicated significant and positive mean gains in self perceptions. In addition, an examination of the relationships of teacher perceptions of pupils to six pupil characteristics (socio-economic status, sex, race, peer acceptance, intelligence, perceptions of self) suggested: (1) Teachers are influenced by the socio-economic status of the child; (2) a teacher's style of interaction teaches children how to perceive their classmates; (3) teachers are not generally influenced by a child's race or sex; and (4) teachers and pupils tend to agree on perceptions of school work tasks, but no such congruence was observed for social skill tasks. (Author/WS)