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High-Expectations Relationships: A Foundation for Enacting High Expectations in all Australian Schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2018

Chris Sarra ,
David Spillman ,
Cathy Jackson ,
John Davis  and
John Bray
Chris Sarra
Affiliation:
Stronger Smarter Institute, Caboolture, Queensland, 4510, Australia
David Spillman
Affiliation:
Leadership Development, MurriMatters Consulting, Boonah, Queensland, 4310, Australia
Cathy Jackson*
Affiliation:
Stronger Smarter Institute, Caboolture, Queensland, 4510, Australia
John Davis
Affiliation:
Stronger Smarter Institute, Caboolture, Queensland, 4510, Australia
John Bray
Affiliation:
Department of the Chief Minister, Northern Territory Government, Darwin, Northern Territory, 0801, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Cathy Jackson, Stronger Smarter Institute, Caboolture, Queensland, 4510, Australia. Email: cathy.jackson@strongersmarter.com.au.
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Abstract

Enacting high expectations for all students in the classroom is a complex undertaking. Underlying, out-of-awareness assumptions may lead to actions, behaviours or pedagogic choices that do not support these high expectations beliefs and intentions. For Indigenous education, this is compounded by public and professional discourses around deficit positioning, and by historical conditioning, where many Indigenous students do not see achieving in school as part of their cultural identity. High expectations are usually considered as a performance agenda — in terms of effort, learning and achievement. In this paper, we introduce the concept of high-expectations relationships where viewing and enacting high expectations through a relational lens equips educators with strategies to support such performance outcomes. We describe this relational lens where fair, socially just relating establishes a relational space of trust, thus enabling both student motivation and the firm, critically reflective relating necessary for quality learning. Using the voices of educators, we describe how high-expectations relationships can promote collegiate staff environments, strong teacher–student relationships and trusting and supportive relationships with parents and carers. We show how these positive educational attributes of any school community, seeded through a focus on high-expectations relationships, work to support the performance outcomes of a high-expectations educational agenda.

Keywords

high-expectations relationshipshigh expectationsteacher–student relationshipsstudent engagementcommunity engagement
Type
Research Article
Information
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , August 2020 , pp. 32 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2018

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