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ago and twenty years later this concept was applied to teachers (Rosen-
thal and Jacobson, 1968). The proposition was that when teachers expected
their students to do well they interacted with them in ways that led to their
expectations being fulfilled. Since then the research has consistently explored
teacher expectations; expectations of significant others for student outcomes
have been largely ignored. For example, while teachers clearly hold expecta-
tions for students, students will have self-expectations and parents will also
have expectations for their children. Furthermore, parents, students and
teachers will have expectations of each other. Yet these various perceptions
have been little explored, and where they have, at most, expectations of two
parties have been included (see Benner and Mistry, 2007, for a recent
example).
The primary aim of the current research was to explore expectations
students, teachers and parents have for one another. An extensive literature
search has not located any other studies that have explored these various
perspectives in one study.
Student expectations
Students’ expectations of themselves at secondary school
It is likely students will have self-expectations and beliefs based on prior
achievement, experience and aspirations of parents and teachers. When
individuals have a strong belief in their ability to achieve a particular goal
they are more likely to design steps towards achieving the goal so ultimately
success will be attained. Self-belief is a powerful motivator. Tavani and Losh
(2003) measured several psychological variables related to the academic
performance of secondary school students. Unsurprisingly student expecta-
tions and motivation were highly correlated as were expectations and
self-confidence. The researchers showed student expectations strongly pre-
36 dicted achievement, followed by parental encouragement, self-motivation
Expectations of achievement
and self-confidence. While this study was correlational it showed strong
relationships between students’ self-beliefs and academic attainment.
Parent expectations
Parents’ expectations of secondary school students
Parent expectations have been investigated far less often than those of teach-
ers and yet may be similarly influential. Indeed, Ma (2001) argued that
parent expectations about whether their children would go to university had
more effect on students than either teacher or peer expectations. 37
No. 83
Parent expectations have been posited as affecting student outcomes both
directly through interactions with their children and indirectly through
parental beliefs and perceived efficacy in providing academic support to
Research in Education
Teacher expectations
Teachers’ expectations of secondary school students
While expectations for students of elementary age have been extensively
explored (e.g. Babad, 1998; Brophy, 1983; Cooper, 1985; Good and Wein-
stein, 1986; Rubie-Davies, 2006; Weinstein, 2002) there has been much less
research in relation to expectations of older students. The effects of teacher
expectations have been assumed to dissipate as students move through the
schooling system as students become more accurate at self-assessment, more
38 autonomous and hence, it is assumed, less easily influenced by teachers’
Expectations of achievement
perceptions. Some research has shown the influence of teachers’ expecta-
tions declines across elementary school (Kuklinski and Weinstein, 2001) and
others that students may be more vulnerable to teachers’ expectations during
transitions from one school level to another (Jussim et al., 1996).
Clifton and Bulcock (1987) showed that teachers’ academic and effort
expectations at grades 9 and 10 affected teacher grade assignments on
teacher-made tests. Teachers’ academic expectations also affected student
achievement on standardised English and mathematics tests albeit to a lesser
extent than they did grade assignment. This study suggested teacher expecta-
tions can affect student outcomes at secondary school level. Similarly,
Muller (1998) found, controlling for prior performance, teachers’ expecta-
tions were of greater consequence in predicting student achievement gains
and performance than were student expectations. Furthermore, Muller
showed students’ expectations were strongly influenced by expectations of
teachers.
Oakes et al., 1992). It has been shown such negative effects particularly
applied to children from ethnic minority groups and those from low socio-
economic groups, who tended to be unequally distributed in the lower
streams and to receive a ‘dumbed down’ curriculum, compared with middle-
class students of similar ability (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Develop-
ment, 1989; Virginia State Department of Education, 1992; Jussim et al.,
1996; Persell, 1977; Winn and Wilson, 1983). Despite the contentions
about the negative effects of teacher expectations on student achievement,
the practice of streaming continues in several secondary schools in New
Zealand.
The current study aimed to investigate expectations of schooling
achievement from the perspective of students, teachers and parents. This
study is unique in exploring expectations from multiple viewpoints. More-
over, the study explored barriers to fulfilling students’ expectations for
schooling.
Method
Student, parent and teacher focus groups were conducted in three secondary
schools in the Auckland area of New Zealand, one each from a high, middle
and low socioeconomic area. Each focus group consisted of between six and
ten people. Two student focus groups were held in each school (boys par-
ticipated separately from girls) and all students were in either Year 9 or Year
10 (aged approximately thirteen to fifteen years). The students (boys, n =
21; girls, n = 22) were selected at random by a school liaison person with
the proviso that they represented a range of abilities and an ethnic mix. The
vast majority of student participants, however, were New Zealand European
(n = 30), with five identifying as Maori, four as Pacific Island and four as
other ethnic groups. Twenty-six teachers participated in four focus groups,
with two groups at the low socio-economic school and one each at the other
two schools. Nineteen parents participated in one of three focus groups
conducted in each school. The liaison person in each school recruited the
teacher and parent participants. While some of the participants knew each
other they were not necessarily friends. All focus groups were conducted at
the respective schools in a room where interruptions would be minimal. All
participants signed consent forms agreeing to participate. Students under
the age of sixteen signed assent forms and their parents consented to their
participation.
Each focus group lasted one hour and was conducted by two researchers,
one of whom acted as facilitator while the other took notes. All focus
groups were audio-recorded and later transcribed. Together the discussion
notes and audio-tape transcripts provided a complete record of each focus
40 group.
Expectations of achievement
The discussions in each focus group were guided by a common set of
topics and a similar set of prompts devised by the authors was used (refer
appendix). Several topics were explored and this paper focuses on (a) the
influences on learning and expectations the groups had of schooling and of
the students and (b) barriers to achieving goals and expectations. The lead
questions pertaining to those sections are contained in the appendix.
All transcripts of focus group discussions were analysed. The lead author
read the transcripts through several times to become familiar with what
participants had said and discussed. This process facilitated an understand-
ing of the core ideas and enabled themes to be developed from the data
as recommended by Strauss and Corbin (1998). Statements made by
participants were then systematically coded into categories within themes
for each of the participant groups. Each researcher reviewed the themes
and categories coded in conjunction with close reading of the focus group
transcripts. Discussions occurred where additions and amendments to
coding categories were identified until all researchers were satisfied that the
set of categories and themes identified accurately and exhaustively repre-
sented the data. A total of 389 comments were coded relating to expecta-
tions and perceived barriers to fulfilling expectations from across the three
participant groups. These ideas form the basis for the summary presented
in the results section.
Results
This section will include evidence of what students, teachers and parents
expected students would achieve in school and where students were expected
to be in five years’ time. Teacher and parent expectations as perceived by
each group are also included. This is followed by a section related to how
teachers and students perceive that streaming creates a barrier to achieving
expectations. Although streaming was not an issue included in the focus
group prompts, it was an aspect commonly mentioned by both students and
teachers as impacting on expectations.
All groups spoke about students having high expectations for themselves.
Some students had set high expectations for themselves in the hope of 41
No. 83
escaping particular family backgrounds. For example, one student spoke of
the consequences for a brother who had dropped out of school early.
Research in Education
. . . my brother dropped out of college . . . now it’s harder for him to get
a job . . . and I thought I don’t want to be a loser like that. [Student]
Another said:
Yeah, probably (to go to) university so I can get a good job and my main
priority is getting a good house, ’cause I don’t want to be living in some
poor place, ’cause, like, I’ve had a bad childhood, kind of, and I just want
to be better. [Student]
Some students recognised their expectations did not always match those of
parents:
I think my expectations are a little bit lower than my parents’ expectations,
not by much, but a little bit. Because if I come home and I’ve failed some-
thing I sort of get yelled at for doing something wrong. [Student]
Similarly, they recognised the important role their own attitudes could play
42 in helping them achieve their expectations.
Expectations of achievement
Because of my brothers, they’re, like, all gangsta and that, . . . and because
we have the same last name people think that I’m going to be the same as
them and because people think that . . . I want to prove them wrong. I
want to be different . . . it just goes back to you wanting to be the best and
you trying your best to get there. [Student]
Students listed a wide range of potential occupations but did not always
seem sure about the qualifications they would need. For example, some
expected to go into a trade but perceived they needed to obtain a university
degree in order to do so. Similarly when students were asked why they
wished to go travelling they did not appear always to have carefully reasoned
ideas for doing so.
. . . ’cause a lot of people travel when they leave school or after they leave
school . . . and I plan to go straight after school so I have that out of the
way so I can just focus on my job. [Student]
Parents, too, had high yet realistic expectations for their children’s future.
Most wanted their children to go to university.
I am going to push both my girls to go to university because it gives them
more options when they come out. [Parent]
However, they were also concerned that their children should pursue some-
thing they enjoyed: 43
No. 83
I want to pick up on their interests and say, Well, what do you want to
do . . . and find out from them where they would like to go. But also in
today’s society if you don’t have a qualification it’s going to be very hard
Research in Education
Some teachers and parents were confident teachers expected all students to
do their best work and tried to help them reach their potential. While many
students expressed positive views of their teachers’ expectations and behav-
iours, such views were frequently counterbalanced by ideas that teachers’
expectations could affect how well students were catered for, particularly
when expectations were low:
. . . if they’ve got a low expectation for you, um, they don’t try and
push you to get higher than that . . . it would affect your learning, ’cause
people think that you can’t do things, so therefore you feel that you are
being held back and you don’t feel good about it, so you just keep quiet.
[Student]
Parents, too, expressed the view that when teachers set low expectations
44 of students this could lower students’ expectations of themselves:
Expectations of achievement
I think the teachers’ expectations vary according to the children and I think
they can become self-fulfilling . . . the teacher had decided by the end of
term one that Peter [pseudonym] wouldn’t be capable of going on to level
3 . . . it really became self-fulfilling after that, because Peter knew the
teacher had limited confidence in his ability in that subject and I don’t think
there was anything much we could do from there . . . I dream of my child
being the one per cent that turns around, whereas teachers see ninety-nine
per cent of the kids who don’t . . . [Parent]
All groups agreed that when teacher expectations were high they were valu-
able, as teachers then challenged students:
I actually just want them to do the best that they can do . . . I believe you
have the power to push them to achieve better than they could with some-
body else . . . [Teacher]
The teachers know what they are capable of doing and push them to that
level. [Parent]
However, teachers also recognised the powerful positive and negative effects
their expectations could have on students:
Their [students’] expectations change if yours do, I guess. If you start
believing in them and just keep saying, like, You can do it, often some will.
But if they think, oh, you can’t be bothered, don’t care and don’t have
expectations of them, they’ll feel the same, so it’s reflected by you. [Teacher]
A lot of parents who have come through education and look back think
that they want their kids to get perhaps what they didn’t have or perhaps
what they didn’t see. [Teacher]
Perhaps because of the high expectations set by many parents, some students
felt pressured by their parents to succeed:
It’s, like, I had a friend . . . and her parents were very, very strict and very
pushy on her homework . . . and they basically told her what she was going
to be when she got older, a doctor . . . and the pressure became so much
for her that she literally began to hate them and she would just be crying
on the phone to me all the time . . . So sometimes that’s not a good thing
when parents are too controlling over you. [Student]
stream . . . and I think that some are possibly feeling—not feeling very
good about themselves . . . feeling, like, Oh well, nobody thinks I can do
anything, so I’m not going to do anything anyway . . . and the same for
children that go up as well: suddenly you can just see they have a different
look about them, they are so proud. [Teacher]
Discussion
Exploring expectations from multiple perspectives (student, teacher and
parent) has provided an enriched view of the significance of expectations for
student performance and of how expectations of valued others and of stu-
dents themselves contribute to student perceptions and aspirations. Students,
teachers and parents recognise their contribution to student expectations and
outcomes. In keeping with the findings in a recent study (Ali and McWhirter,
2006), there was an expectation by all groups that school success is an
important route to overcoming any disadvantage of home background.
Students had overwhelmingly positive expectations for their futures.
Teachers and parents were similarly optimistic, although teachers expected
that not all students would have a positive future. Parents expected their
children to complete school successfully and to become confident adults. It
is likely the positive attitudes of all groups served to motivate and encourage
the students to succeed.
One barrier to the fulfilment of high expectations for school achievement
that emerged was the practice of streaming. Both teachers and students were
almost universally negative in their appraisal of streaming and the impact
of the practice on expectations and outcomes. Allocation of students to a
particular stream was viewed as not always being accurate, resulting at times
in students being given work that was not challenging. Teachers viewed
downward movement and the placement of students in lower streams as
having a negative effect on student self-efficacy and behaviour. Further,
teachers and students recognised an alignment between the stream students
were placed in and teachers’ expectations for success; both groups perceived
student outcomes related to the stream they were in, so that those in high
streams become more successful while those in low tracks do not.
Teacher expectations were regarded by teachers as being formed as a
result of student–teacher interactions and on-going assessment of student
work. However, even teachers acknowledged expectations were not always
accurate and at times needed adjusting. All groups recognised the pernicious
effects of low teacher expectations. Students were considered to be vulner-
able when teacher expectations were low, since it was perceived that student
self-belief declined in such a situation and with that came a corresponding
decline in performance. Some teachers were recognised as holding high
expectations for their students and it was felt that such teachers facilitated
48 students’ self-belief and achievement of their potential.
Expectations of achievement
Generally, parents considered their expectations had a less direct effect
on student outcomes. This finding is in contrast to that of Ma (2001), who
showed that parent expectations had greater impact on student performance
than teacher expectations. Further, van der Hoeven-van Doornum and col-
leagues (1993) found that high parent expectations could influence teachers’
expectations. Parents in the current study may not have fully recognised
their part in the expectation–achievement cycle. Nevertheless, all groups
acknowledged that parents had high expectations for their children. It was
considered parents wanted a successful future for their children and often
a future that was better than the parents themselves enjoyed. For some
students, this meant they strove to be successful to please their parents,
which is in keeping with other findings (Peterson and Irving, 2008; Urdan
et al., 2007). However, there were some students who felt overburdened
by parents’ unrealistically high expectations to succeed. Clayson (2005)
argued that, when expectations were unrealistically high, students would
inevitably be disappointed with their results and ultimately this could have
negative effects on student self-belief and motivation.
Teachers did not appear to distinguish between parents of different socio-
economic groups in terms of the level of interest they might take in their
children’s learning and the support parents provided. However, they did
perceive that the value parents placed on education was reflected in students’
valuing of their own education. This finding supports that of Hauser-Cram
and colleagues (2003), who showed teachers viewed the values of some
parents as not aligning with their own; in these instances teachers held lower
expectations for the students of such parents. In the current study where
there was a non-alignment of values this was viewed by the teachers as
affecting student motivation and therefore success.
The study has explored expectations from the perspective of students,
teachers and parents from within the same communities. It has provided
unique insights into the multiple viewpoints related to expectations of stu-
dents, teachers and parents by students, teachers and parents. No other
study has been located that focuses closely on these interrelationships with
regard to expectations. Generally, all groups were viewed positively by the
others, although there were some caveats.
While the study has provided many interesting findings related to stu-
dents’, teachers’ and parents’ expectations, any conclusions must be regarded
as tentative, since the findings relate to a limited number of participants
engaged in focus groups. One direction for future research, therefore, is to
conduct a large-scale questionnaire based on the findings which could
explore student, teacher and parent beliefs and expectations across a much
broader population. A further alternative is to explore some of the issues
raised in this article in more depth with students, teachers and parents. For
example, there is some evidence the student–teacher relationship is impor-
tant in enhancing student expectations and success (Muller et al., 1999) and
this aspect could be further explored from teacher, student and parent per-
spectives. It needs to remembered, however, that both focus groups and 49
No. 83
questionnaires are reliant on self-report evidence. There is research to show
that there can be a disparity between what people report and their actions
(Sowth et al., 2003) and hence some caution is needed in interpreting results
Research in Education
Appendix
Prompts related to expectations for teacher, student and parent
focus groups
Students
At the end of schooling, what do you expect your education to get you?
Where do you see yourselves in five years’ time/after you’ve left school?
Why? Explain.
What will get you there/what will need to happen for you to get there?
What do your parents/caregivers expect from your education?
What do they say (or otherwise indicate) they expect you to achieve?
What are your teachers’ expectations for your educational outcomes?
What do you think they expect you to achieve? Why?
What are the barriers, if any, to fulfilling your expectations?
Are these barriers fixed or movable (alterable)? Explain.
Teachers
What kinds of expectations for school success do student have?
What kinds of expectations for school success do parents have?
Where do students’ and parents’ expectations about school success come from? What
influences these?
What kinds of expectations for school success do you have for your students?
Where do your expectations about your students’ school success come from? What
influences these?
Where do you see your class in five years’ time? Explain.
Have your expectations for your class changed? Why?
In what ways do students’ expectations change, if at all?
What influences changes in expectations?
Parents
What kinds of expectations for school success do you have for your child?
Where do these come from?
How have your expectations changed, if at all?
What kinds of expectations for school success does your child have?
50 Where do these come from?
Expectations of achievement
How have your child’s expectations changed, if at all?
What kinds of expectations for school success does your child’s teacher have for
your child?
Why do you think that is?
Where do your expectations about school success come from?
What influences these?
Where do you see your child in five years’ time/after leaving school? Explain.
What will get your child there? Explain.
What barriers are there to your child getting there?
Are these barriers fixed or movable?
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Research in Education
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