A systematic review of teachers’ perceptions of learners’ intelligence in relation to gender, age, and cultural differences.

Abstract

This study investigated teachers’ perceptions of intelligence with particular reference to learners’ gender, age, and cultural differences. A systematic review of relevant existing studies conducted within twenty years (2002 to 2022) on teachers’ perceptions of intelligence was undertaken. To implement the study a protocol referred to as Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and the data search strategy called Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome (PICO), were adopted. Guided by these methodological strategies the study collected and synthesised data qualitatively to answer the key questions of the research. To extract and collate the findings from the different relevant sources included in the sample for the review, a qualitative thematic synthesis was used, which yielded the emerging themes. The findings revealed that: Learners’ intelligence as perceived by teachers is related to age, gender, and culture. Teachers have two different types of mindsets that influence their perceptions of learners’ intelligence which are referred to as implicit theories of intelligence (incremental and entity mindsets or beliefs). Teachers who consider intelligence as malleable/incremental believe that intelligence can develop over time and can suffer interference or improvements from the environment and undergo some changes throughout life. Whereas teachers who consider intelligence as a fixed entity see intelligence as innate and the brain as having little or no plasticity. There is shortage of data and studies that investigate teachers’ perceptions in the field of intelligence, particularly in relation to scholars in the African continent. Such dearth of research is regretted and suggests that there is a need for researchers in the African continent to double their efforts towards conducting studies focusing on teachers’ perceptions of intelligence. Implications of these findings were examined and recommendations for improved policy and further research were proffered.