{"title":"Quality and quantity: How contexts influence the emergence of teacher bias","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s11218-023-09882-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> <p>A growing body of research has demonstrated that teachers’ judgements may be biased by the demographics and characteristics of the students they teach. However, less work has investigated the contexts in which teachers may be most vulnerable to bias. In two pre-registered experimental studies we explored whether the quality of students’ work, and the cognitive load placed on the grader, would influence the emergence of biases relating to socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity. In Study 1, teachers (<em>N</em> = 397) graded work of either high or low quality that had ostensibly been written by a student who varied in terms of SES and ethnicity. We found that SES and—to a lesser extent—ethnicity biases were more likely to manifest when the standard of work was below average, largely favouring a student from an affluent White background. In Study 2, an undergraduate sample (<em>N</em> = 334) provided judgements based on an identical piece of work written by a student who varied by SES and ethnicity. Importantly, they formulated these judgements whilst working under high or low cognitive load, which was manipulated via a simultaneous listening task. Results showed that under high cognitive load, a student from an affluent White British background was afforded a boost in grading that was not afforded to Black Caribbean and/or lower SES students. These findings highlight contexts in which teachers may be most prone to biased judgements and should be used by educational institutions to de-bias their workflows, workloads and workforces.</p>","PeriodicalId":51467,"journal":{"name":"Social Psychology of Education","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Psychology of Education","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-023-09882-z","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, EDUCATIONAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A growing body of research has demonstrated that teachers’ judgements may be biased by the demographics and characteristics of the students they teach. However, less work has investigated the contexts in which teachers may be most vulnerable to bias. In two pre-registered experimental studies we explored whether the quality of students’ work, and the cognitive load placed on the grader, would influence the emergence of biases relating to socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity. In Study 1, teachers (N = 397) graded work of either high or low quality that had ostensibly been written by a student who varied in terms of SES and ethnicity. We found that SES and—to a lesser extent—ethnicity biases were more likely to manifest when the standard of work was below average, largely favouring a student from an affluent White background. In Study 2, an undergraduate sample (N = 334) provided judgements based on an identical piece of work written by a student who varied by SES and ethnicity. Importantly, they formulated these judgements whilst working under high or low cognitive load, which was manipulated via a simultaneous listening task. Results showed that under high cognitive load, a student from an affluent White British background was afforded a boost in grading that was not afforded to Black Caribbean and/or lower SES students. These findings highlight contexts in which teachers may be most prone to biased judgements and should be used by educational institutions to de-bias their workflows, workloads and workforces.
期刊介绍:
The field of social psychology spans the boundary between the disciplines of psychology and sociology and has traditionally been associated with empirical research. Many studies of human behaviour in education are conducted by persons who identify with social psychology or whose work falls into the social psychological ambit. Several textbooks have been published and a variety of courses are being offered on the `social psychology of education'', but no journal has hitherto appeared to cover the field. Social Psychology of Education fills this gap, covering a wide variety of content concerns, theoretical interests and research methods, among which are: Content concerns: classroom instruction decision making in education educational innovation concerns for gender, race, ethnicity and social class knowledge creation, transmission and effects leadership in schools and school systems long-term effects of instructional processes micropolitics of schools student cultures and interactions teacher recruitment and careers teacher- student relations Theoretical interests: achievement motivation attitude theory attribution theory conflict management and the learning of pro-social behaviour cultural and social capital discourse analysis group dynamics role theory social exchange theory social transition social learning theory status attainment symbolic interaction the study of organisations Research methods: comparative research experiments formal observations historical studies literature reviews panel studies qualitative methods sample surveys For social psychologists with a special interest in educational matters, educational researchers with a social psychological approach.