What if every student in your classroom believed they could succeed, and they did? High expectations teaching is the empowering method that turns this vision into reality. It’s not just about grades or career paths; it’s about instilling a mindset where students feel capable and motivated to achieve their potential. Let’s explore how you can inspire students to aim higher and achieve more.

Research shows time and again that teacher expectations have a huge impact on student performance. Dr. Christine Rubie-Davies’ studies reveal that high-expectation teachers encourage students to push past their current abilities, leading to accelerated progress. In contrast, low-expectation teachers often stick to routine, less demanding tasks, creating a cycle of underachievement.

Closing the Gap Between Hopes and Results

Aspirations reflect what students hope to achieve, while expectations are what they believe they realistically can achieve. When students have high aspirations but low expectations, frustration and disengagement often follow. We need to help close this gap by encouraging ambitious thinking and equipping students with the skills, habits, and attitudes to succeed.

Practical Strategies for Setting High Expectations

Setting high expectations isn’t just about what we aim for, it’s about how we guide students to meet those goals. By focusing on actionable and supportive methods, we can create an environment where every student feels empowered to succeed. Here are some practical strategies to make high expectations a reality in your classroom.

How Setting the Bar High Transforms Learning

High expectations in education are a catalyst for change. They go beyond academic benchmarks to shape students’ self-perception, motivation, and future aspirations. When teachers hold students to high standards, they send a powerful message: “I believe in your potential.” This belief not only motivates students to meet these expectations but also empowers them to exceed their own perceived limitations.

Studies consistently show that when educators expect more, students achieve more. High expectations influence how lessons are planned, how challenges are presented, and how feedback is delivered. Teachers who believe in their students’ ability to succeed often see improvements in both engagement and outcomes. This phenomenon is tied to the idea that expectations can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy—what teachers believe, they communicate, and what students internalise, they act upon. Nowhere is this more evident than in classrooms where teachers actively cultivate a culture of success. (Davies, 2021), (Saphier, 2016)

But what makes high expectations effective is how they are implemented. It’s not only about raising the bar higher and higher, but it’s also about providing the scaffolding (at the right time) needed to help students reach it. Encouragement, clear communication, and consistent support are essential components. Students need to see that their efforts matter and that growth is possible, even when faced with difficulties.

How Do Teacher Expectations Shape Success?

Focus on Learning Intentions

Low-expectation teaching often prioritises task completion over learning. High-expectation teachers, on the other hand, focus on learning goals and success criteria, inspiring deeper understanding and motivation. For example, instead of saying, “Complete the worksheet,” say, “Demonstrate how to calculate area and explain its real-world applications.”

Encourage Advanced Thinking

Ask open-ended questions to spark critical thinking and engagement. Replace simple fact-based queries with prompts like, “Why do you think this character acted that way? What evidence supports your conclusion?”

Building Trust for a Thriving Classroom Environment

High expectations thrive in classrooms where students feel supported. Build trust, show genuine interest in their progress, and encourage collaboration. Small activities like peer sharing or acts of kindness can make a big difference in cultivating emotional support.

Set PACT Goals

Anyone who knows me in person will know, I hate SMART targets – I think they’ve been done to death and lack the emotion needed to really achieve something with meaning. I am becoming a bit of an evangelist for teachers and trainers to think of PACT when setting targets (I mean, it’s anaother acronym and might not be a million miles from SMART, but it feels like a shift in focus to me!): Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous, and Trackable. PACT goals ensure that objectives are meaningful and structured for success:

• Purposeful: Every goal should connect to a clear purpose, helping students understand why their effort matters.
• Actionable: Goals should focus on specific actions students can take, breaking them into manageable steps.
• Continuous: Learning is an ongoing journey. Encourage goals that evolve as students grow and reflect.
• Trackable: Build in ways to measure progress, so students can see their achievements and adjust when needed.

By using PACT goals, you create a system that supports accountability and growth while keeping students motivated and on track. To dive deeper into how PACT goals can transform your teaching, check out my article and resources here

Strategies to Inspire Ambition

Ambition drives achievement, but it often needs a spark to ignite it. As educators, we have the unique opportunity to inspire students to dream big and pursue their goals with confidence. These strategies focus on building that ambition by connecting learning to real-life aspirations and encouraging resilience. Here’s how you can help students aim higher and achieve more:

Expose Students to Role Models

Bring in guest speakers from diverse backgrounds who have achieved success in fields your students are interested in. Representation matters—students are more likely to believe in their own potential when they see others who’ve walked a similar path.

Engage in Vocational and Technical Tasks

Provide hands-on opportunities that connect learning to real-world careers. For instance, a design student could take on a branding project for a local business, making their work feel meaningful and relevant.

Strengthen Confidence Through Self-Efficacy

Students with strong self-efficacy tackle challenges with confidence. Celebrate small wins, help them learn from setbacks, and reinforce the idea that effort and strategy lead to success, not just natural talent.

Steering Clear of Common Teaching Traps

Every teacher faces challenges that can derail their efforts to set high expectations. Recognising these pitfalls is the first step to avoiding them. By addressing common teaching traps head-on, you can ensure that your classroom remains a space where every student feels encouraged to grow. Here’s how to navigate these challenges effectively.

The Dangers of Differentiation

Differentiation, when misapplied, can inadvertently set lower expectations before students have even entered the session. By planning tasks based on assumed ability levels, teachers may unintentionally create a ceiling on what students can achieve, rather than providing pathways to higher learning. Instead of pre-determining what students can handle, adopt a responsive teaching approach. Offer targeted scaffolding and support,while maintaining high expectations for all students, ensuring that every learner has access to challenging and meaningful content.

1. Trap: Pre-setting easier worksheets for ‘weaker’ students.
Instead: Start with a shared, high-challenge task for everyone. As students begin, circulate to offer verbal scaffolding or questioning where needed. Let students show what they can do before you adapt the task.

2. Trap: Colour-coded tasks with built-in ability assumptions.
Instead: Give all students the same challenging task, but provide optional sentence starters, model answers or visual prompts. These supports are available to everyone, not just a pre-judged group.

Replace Over-Praise with Constructive Feedback

Focus praise on effort and strategy rather than results. Provide actionable, specific feedback to help students understand how to improve and build confidence in their ability to grow.

1. Trap: “Well done, that’s great!”
Instead: “I can see you worked really hard on that structure. To make it even better, try linking your second paragraph more clearly to your argument.”

2. Trap: Praising speed or natural ability.
Instead: “You didn’t give up, even when it got tough – that kind of persistence really helps when tackling tricky problems.”

Overloading with Tasks Instead of Purposeful Work

Avoid overwhelming students with busywork that lacks a clear learning objective. Engagement alone doesn’t equal learning—activities should be designed with clear intent to deepen understanding and develop essential skills. Focus on designing tasks that challenge students’ critical thinking and align with their learning goals. Purposeful work helps maintain engagement and ensures that students see the value in their efforts.

1. Trap: Giving five short activities to ‘keep them busy’.
Instead: Set one well-designed task that requires deeper thinking and allows time for self-reflection, peer discussion or refinement. Quality over quantity.

2. Trap: Worksheets that don’t connect to the learning aim.
Instead: Start with your objective. Ask: “What do I want them to learn?” Then design one task that builds towards it clearly, e.g. analysing a case study using a framework you’ve just taught.

Ignoring their Individual Starting Point

Every student begins their learning journey at a unique point. Instead of assuming their achievement level with a particular topic or assignment, find out what prior knowledge your students have first. Progress will look different to each student and overlooking these differences can lead to frustration or disengagement. Tailor your support to address individual needs wherever you can, ensuring that each student feels both challenged and supported as they progress.

1. Trap: Launching into a lesson without checking prior knowledge.
Instead: Use a quick entry task or mini quiz to check what they already know. Use the results to adjust your teaching in real time – reteach or extend as needed.

2. Trap: Giving the same writing scaffold to everyone.
Instead: Offer three levels of scaffolding – one with sentence starters, one with paragraph frames, and one with just keywords. Let students choose or recommend based on what you observed in previous work.

High expectations teaching is about seeing every student as capable of remarkable growth. Share this article with a colleague and start a conversation about 

how to implement these strategies in your classroom. Together, let’s inspire students to aim high and achieve their best.