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What do we mean when we say we have high expectations for students?

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Melanie Saunders, Chief Education Adviser for HPL, explores the difference between words and actions.

About this webinar:

What do we mean when we say we have high expectations for students? Melanie Saunders, Chief Education Adviser for HPL, explores the difference between words and actions. During this school year, a year like no other, it’s a perfect time to reflect on our expectations of students in the year to come.
While we don’t hear teachers talking about aiming low and expecting little, actions speak louder than words and sometimes what we say in school and what we do are in conflict.

About the presenter:

Melanie Saunders is the Chief Education Adviser for High Performance Learning and a respected independent education consultant, working with professional learning organisations, local authorities, academy chains, independent, maintained and international schools. Having been a senior officer with school performance responsibility across a large local authority, a secondary headteacher, school governor, IEB Chair and MAT Trustee she has practical as well as an academic understanding of school leadership and governance.
Melanie joined HPL during its inception and worked alongside the first cohort of World Class Award schools, beginning their HPL journey in 2016 and she has been key in the evolution of the World Class Schools Award programme. Melanie frequently presents, both nationally and internationally, on the power and impact of High Performance Learning.
As an experienced leadership coach with a sound understanding of how to drive change in educational settings, both in the UK and internationally, Melanie has worked with some of the very highest performing maintained, independent and international schools and is a regular contributor to educational publications, reviews and reports.

What you will learn:
  • Understand why we should have high expectations and how they impact on student outcomes.
  • Think about whether what we say about expectations is consistent with what we do in class.
  • Explore the language of expectation and how this affects performance.
  • Reflect on whether high expectations lead to high pressure.
  • Consider the enemies of high expectations.