Teacher expectations are usually defined as ‘inferences that teachers make about the future behaviour or academic achievement of their students based on what they know about these students now’ (Good & Brophy, 1997, p. 79). It is assumed that if teachers have high expectations for all students, then all students will be challenged so greater learning progress will be achieved. The focus of this paper is to describe the outcomes of teaching the beliefs and practices of high expectation teachers to 47 intervention teachers. The authors of the paper argue that teachers can differ markedly in their expectations but when equipped with the strategies of high expectation teachers, the effect of changed behaviours can be notable. In fact, while studies (e.g., Rubie-Davies, 2008) have shown that high teacher expectations can raise student achievement considerably, no studies have been conducted into the extent to which an intervention can successfully change the practices of randomly assigned teachers into high expectation teachers. Therefore, becoming an effective teacher involves much more than merely accumulating skills and strategies. The inference would be that if teachers can be taught specific behaviours of high expectation teachers, student outcomes could improve.

This paper is based on the first year of an intervention study which attempts to change teacher expectations for all students.  The teachers completed four workshop/professional development days where they were introduced to the specific teaching areas in which high expectation teachers differed markedly from low expectation teachers.  These areas were: grouping; learning experiences; evaluation; motivation; student responsibility for learning and classroom climate. With support from the researchers the teachers planned changed instructional and affective behaviours to introduce into their classrooms that reflected those of high expectation teachers.

The research questions which guided the study were: ‘Can teachers’ expectations be raised and associated beliefs and practices changed?’ and ‘How do teachers perceive their expectations and associated beliefs and practices have changed (if at all) as a result of the intervention?’ This paper is based solely on the teachers’ self-reported perceptions of the first year of the study and does not include observations of students or their test scores.

Theoretical framework

Over the past 30 years teacher expectation research has provided much insight into ‘basic developmental, educational and social phenomena’ (Jussim & Harber, 2005, p.153).  The current study sought to explore the experiences of the intervention teachers as they introduced and trialled new teaching practices associated with high expectation teachers into their classrooms. Student achievement differences are attributable to identifiable distinctions in the beliefs (Rubie-Davies, 2008; 2010) of high and low expectation teachers respectively.

Teacher beliefs play a critical role for teachers because they filter new knowledge which influences how teachers learn to teach, plan to teach, make decisions and interact with students (Borko & Putman, 1996). Hence the focus of the study moved from viewing expectations as a student phenomenon (the student causes the expectations in the teacher) to conceiving of expectations as a teacher-related phenomenon where teachers have differing pedagogical beliefs that moderate their expectations. 

References Borko, H., & Putman, R. (1996). Learning to teach. In D.C. Berlinger & R.C. Calfee (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan. Good, T., & Brophy, J. (1997). Looking in classrooms (7th ed.). New York, NY: Longman. Jussim, L., & Harber, K. (2005). Teacher expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies: Knowns and unknowns, resolved and unresolved controversies. Personality and social psychology review, 9(2), 131-155. Rubie-Davies, C. (2008). Teacher beliefs and expectations: Relationships with student learning. In C. M. Rubie-Davies & C. Rawlinson (Eds.), Challenging thinking about teaching and learning (pp. 25–39). Haupaugge, NY: Nova. Rubie-Davies, C. (2010). Teacher expectations and perceptions of student characteristics: Is there a relationship? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 121–135.