Blogs

At the chalkface: High expectations

Teaching staff
He bounced a board duster off my bonce, a long-recognised method of improving numeracy. He then suggested I was a “cretin”. He would have been sacked these days. I still can’t add up.

We are regularly presented with research from the university of the Bleedin’ Obvious. One such piece from the 60s is oft-quoted even now, more than 50 years later.

It’s called Pygmalion in the Classroom and concerns teacher expectation. It discovered that high expectations are good and low expectations are bad.

“When teachers expected that certain children would show greater intellectual development, those children did show greater intellectual development,” they conclude. Well, knock me down with a feather.

The researchers falsely told teachers that some of their students, chosen at random, had been identified as potential high achievers. Guess what? They achieved highly. The control group didn’t. They achieved less.

Register now, read forever

Thank you for visiting SecEd and reading some of our content for professionals in secondary education. Register now for free to get unlimited access to all content.

What's included:

  • Unlimited access to news, best practice articles and podcast

  • New content and e-bulletins delivered straight to your inbox every Monday and Thursday

Register

Already have an account? Sign in here