ABSTRACT
The expectations that teachers hold for pupils have become an object of, at times, intense investigation because those expectations have been held to have an effect upon the lives of the pupils. The investigation of pupils' perceptions is crucial to an understanding of the total process of schooling. Many of the studies that have investigated pupils' perceptions in order to provide direct and immediate information for teachers have been concerned with pupils' perceptions of the competence, or otherwise, of student teachers undertaking their teaching practice. A study by Halperin goes some way towards overcoming the limitations that seem to be inherent in simple questionnaire studies. Halperin has been one of the very few researchers to study the classroom perceptions of very young children and has also attempted to relate these perceptions to the beliefs and behaviours of the children's teachers. Halperin's initial concern was to measure teachers' attitudes towards their jobs.
