Schools have been asked to prioritise their vulnerable children in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Teachers everywhere are doing just that, being creative, innovative and adaptive, supporting pupils either in school or at home.

I’m excited that tackling vulnerability is being championed and that the reality for the disadvantaged and the vulnerable is being more closely scrutinised. But let’s hope we can use this hiatus to make improvements, and not slip back into old habits when things go back to our normal routines.

I’d like to propose that we make a simple change. Instead of reinforcing the idea that the special educational needs and disability discussion is about “disadvantage” and the need to “catch up” post-lockdown, we should adopt a “can do” narrative.

One thing we could do differently is rethink how our expectations and actions are interrelated. Rosenthal’s Pygmalion Effect - the idea that others’ expectations of a person affect that person’s performance - articulates this neatly. The simple act of giving pupils a label predicates inherent bias towards them (both positive and negative).

In Rosenthal’s research, pupils sat a non-verbal ability test that seemingly identified 20 per cent of the cohort as “spurters” - learners with greater capacity for intellectual growth. Teachers were given the results to see what difference it made, if any, to their view of pupil performance.

In reality, the results were allocated randomly. In subsequent ability tests, the spurters scored higher IQ points than the control group (in 15 out of 17 classes) and, at the end of the year, teachers universally reported them as having a significantly better chance of a successful future. They were seen as more settled and well adjusted.

Teacher expectations and pupil labels really do matter.

When we return to school, how can we address the challenge of avoiding defaulting to assumptions that disadvantaged pupils or pupils with SEND are always likely to be lower attaining? We must consider making this central to our educational learning priorities. Instead of using the time now to get every pupil who is working at home racing through the curriculum, we could refocus our efforts on building pupil confidence and specifically strengthening the learning opportunities for the most vulnerable children.

There’s plenty to do. Steering clear of the deficit narrative so closely associated during this time with “being left behind” and “never going to catch up” is just a start. This isn’t about the pupils, and how they compensate for disadvantage - this is about the choices that we make as teachers and leaders. It’s about equity.

Margaret Mulholland is the special educational needs and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders

This article originally appeared in the 5 June 2020 issue under the headline “The danger of labels and low expectations”