Anonymous
If you were to cast your eyes over an Irish school job advertisement requesting applications from prospective teachers to that school, you’d be likely to read a paragraph (or several) dedicated to making the position sound attractive. Chances are that one of the ways that the school would try to ‘sell’ itself to candidates is by mentioning that the school has ‘high expectations’ of students. In of itself, this is not necessarily a bad thing. I’d imagine most teachers would want to read that the school they are considering applying to has high expectations of their students. After all, a school having high expectations allows teachers to be able to get on and teach well, right?
Not quite.
The problem with the phrase ‘high expectations’ is that its meaning is fuzzy. “We have high expectations of our students” could reasonably mean any of the following:
A. We have lofty goals for our students. B. We expect our students to dream big. C. We have high standards of our students. D. We expect our students to behave excellently. E. We have robust behaviour systems in place. F. We run training sessions to achieve consistency of student experience.
It might be worth considering at this point the phrase you would rather read in a job advertisement. Which of the above would most encourage you to apply to teach in a school?
Although there could be even more options, we’ll focus on these six examples. But first, let’s take a small detour.
In his, rightfully, popular book, Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about the difference between ‘goals’ and ‘systems’. He argues, convincingly, that if a person wants to change their behaviour then they need to focus less on their overarching goal, and more on the systems (habits) that make up their day to day life, and amend those accordingly. One of the quotes from his book that has become well-known is “you don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems”. Essentially, your goals are irrelevant if you don’t change the macro behaviours that will ultimately make those goals reality. I think this quote and the idea behind it is pertinent to the ‘high expectations’ discourse.
With that in mind, let’s go back to phrases A-F and look at them in more detail.
Phrases A and B talk about ‘goals’.
A. We have lofty goals for our students. B. We expect our students to dream big.
Indeed, one of the phrases even has the word ‘goals’ in it. While having goals is not a bad thing, Clear presents the argument that in of themselves, they are not sufficient to motivate behaviour change. Whilst almost every school will say that they have high expectations of their students, having a goal of high expectations of students is not enough to ensure that the behaviour/conduct/(attitude to) learning of the students is of a high level. Of course, it may well be that schools who, in a job advertisement, say that they have high expectations would reveal more in an interview about what that means at a practical, day to day level. However, teachers can – and, I think, should – ask about the practicalities of a school’s ‘high expectations’ goal if the system details are not voluntarily offered.
Phrases E and F talk about those practicalities.
E. We have robust behaviour systems in place. F. We run training sessions to achieve consistency of student experience.
They address what a school is doing at a ‘systems’ level in order to meet the goal of ‘high expectations’. It can be convincingly argued that a school that implements and discusses such systems is more likely to meet the goal of ‘high expectations’ and, consequently, have higher levels of student behaviour/conduct/(attitude to) learning. Maybe phrases E and F don’t read as smoothly in a job advert, but the attention to the systems rather than the goal gives the school more chance of actually demonstrating high expectations.
Phrases C and D refer to the standards that the school actually has.
C. We have high standards of our students. D. We expect our students to behave excellently.
Standards, I think, in a school-meets-teacher context, is the step between goals and systems. Do the school’s standards of student behaviour/learning meet your own? After all, one person’s high standards is another person’s low standards. While phrases C and D are more specific than A and B, teachers should still ask about the systems that have been put in place to try nd allow all students to meet those standards.
I think it’s very easy for job adverts to say “we have high expectations of our students” as a way of attempting to convince prospective candidates to apply to work at the school. The phrase can be tokenistic, used to cover up the fact that a school does not havestrong systems in place or, worse, does not even know what standards they have of students. As mentioned, maybe schools really do want to share their goals in a job advertisement, with a view to discussing the details in person when they can be better communicated. However, if teachers are looking for a school environment that seeks to achieve its ambitions, they should not be afraid to ask about the systems that the school has put in place to underpin the ‘high expectations’ goal.
