Introduction
Every profession has expectations of themselves and the clients they deal with similarly; in the teaching profession, teachers also have created expectations for themselves and that they expect from their learners. Additionally, these expectations guide and motivate the teachers to offer a quality learning experience to the learners. Therefore, this paper discusses how teachers’ expectations impact learning and the learners.
Impacts of Teachers Expectations on Learning
According to (Rubie-Davises al. 2022), teachers’ expectations play a vital role in the learning and learners’ performance. In this case, this means teachers play a massive role in the behavior and educational achievement shaping of the learners. Additionally, teachers’ expectation establishes a reinforcing cycle that examines the improvement in both performance and the learner’s behavior, hence acting as a motivator to the teachers and learners. In this case, (English Standard Version, 1st Cor 14:3) states that a teacher is expected to hold themselves highly hence the high expectations being the encouragement factor. Fortunately, the teaching profession does not only involve classroom work but is full of responsibilities that include nourishing and teaching. Identifying and nurturing individual attributes of both themselves and the learners.
Ultimately, a teacher who has low expectations of their learners tends to negatively affect the learner’s performance. In this case, (English Standard Version, 1st Cor 8:9-13) a teacher is expected to sacrifice their comfort for the betterment of their learners and as such if one cannot do that then certainly they are not fit to be teachers. Hence, both the learner and the teacher have a low motivation level attitude since they lack self-drive to enable them to focus on their targeted academic goals, hence the poor performance result. However, when a teacher has high expectations, those expectations promote the learner’s mental well-being and good, if not excellent academic performance, thus creating a conducive and comfortable environment for learning since they have a motivating factor. Unfortunately, high expectations can also create a negative impact on the learners and also the teachers. In this case, both learners will feel pressured to attain a specific performance and further become frustrated if they do not achieve the goals, they set for themselves, creating mental trauma and even leading to severe depression since they feel like failures for having high expectations, which they cannot achieve. Also, teachers’ expectations can negatively affect the self-esteem of the learners, especially when the learner is a poor performer and is being pushed to match the teacher’s expectations which at some point is impossible because the learner suffers from academic difficulties. In this case, the learner will feel left out hence the depressing and frustrating thoughts.
Furthermore, a teacher with high expectation influences positive and massive attendance of the learners in school. In this case, the learner is exceptionally motivated to attend classes due to the positive impact the teacher has established hence building a significant connection between the learner and the teacher. Impressively, high expectations enable the teacher to understand and know their learners and what every one of them is capable of both academically and morally; this is evident in the fact that teachers are always role models, and learners look up to them, so the teacher with high expectations tends to push their learners positively and even grant those with a poor attitude toward learning develop an interest since learners constantly adjust and act according to the expectations of their teachers.
Another impact of low teacher expectations is that it diminishes earlier achievements, especially when the performance is higher than the latter. Also, low teacher expectations diminish the capabilities of the learners since they lack motivation and the drive from their teachers, who ought to be motivating factors to their learners, exclusive of their families.
According to (De Boer et al.,2018), teachers’ expectations play an essential role in the learner’s learning experience, especially in schools where the teachers’ expectations are supported. In this case, schools support the teachers’ expectations by ensuring they avail all the necessary resources to attain the teachers’ expectations as long as the schools and the learners’ interest is involved. Additionally, teachers’ high expectations give the learners confidence in that it shows the teacher involved is well-versed and equipped with the subject they are teaching. As such, the learners feel they are in the safest hands, and so is their academic future.
Consequently, teachers’ expectations affect the behaviors and attitudes of learners towards learning and society. In this case, the learners imitate the behavior and attitude the teacher portrays before them. Hence, the need for teachers to have high positive expectations not only based on academic outcomes but also morally to enable the learners to understand how to relate with individuals outside the school and morally carry themselves in the future.
Conclusion
According to (Papageorge et al.,2020), teachers’ expectations significantly affect learning and society. In this case, teachers have the responsibility to not only shape the academic success of their learners with their expectations but also their moral behavior and how to relate with people in society. Finally, any teacher who lacks drive and expectations in their profession is likely to get frustrated because not only will the learners’ academic performance diminish but also the teacher’s mental health is likely to suffer because of the pressure they receive from not only the school but also the parents. Hence the importance and impact of teachers’ expectations are something to be concerned about.
