High aspirations, clear expectations and positive behaviour management are key ingredients for creating an effective learning environment
Written by: Bethan Coles
9 min read
Bethan Coles, Teacher Education, University of Bedfordshire, UK
Introduction
Students with either high aspirations or high expectations have higher school achievement than those with both low aspirations and low expectations.
(Khattab, 2015, p. 731)
Low teacher expectations do not necessarily negatively impact on students’ behaviour if there are high aspirations and achievement in place. The latter is not a view that is fully supported by other educational professionals, who feel that high aspirations, clear expectations and positive behaviour are key ingredients for a quality education. This view claims that if elements of these are missing, then this will be at the detriment to effective teaching and learning (T&L) and student achievement (Bennett, 2017; Dix, 2017). An independent review completed by Tom Bennett (2017) on optimising behaviour in schools found that a school culture based around respect, high expectations and aspirations, with parental support and engagement
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