Any factor that causes an educator to have higher expectations for some of their students and lower expectations for others is bound to create results to match. Enter stage left, bias.
Unconscious or implicit biases are learned assumptions, beliefs, or attitudes that we aren’t necessarily aware of and are a normal part of human brain function. No one wants to think they are biased, particularly not people (more specifically educators) who are dedicated to teaching the next generation. Biases have a variety of names with some more obvious than others in their definition. Have you heard of….?
The Halo effect
The Horns effect
Confirmation bias
Affinity bias
The Ostrich effect
Gender bias
Name bias
Anchor bias
Whether we like it or not, we are biased. To tackle your personal bias it helps to know your bias ‘blind spot’.
To tackle the blind spot suggestions include learning about different types of biases, how they might look in your role, and what you might put in place to counteract them. For more ideas see some below.
Do you know your bias blind spot?
Idea 1: Cover the names
Students' names can trigger multiple unconscious biases including name bias (obviously), gender bias, affinity bias and confirmation bias. Our expectations of a student might be skewed simply by reading their names (Quinn, 2021). So don’t read them.
When you get assessment data or collect up work to mark, cover or remove the names. You can also remove the attention from student names through processes such as blind marking and moderation with colleagues.
Idea 2: Tracking to identify bias
Tracking, keeping a ‘tally’ or record of your behaviours, can be done by a colleague observing or students themselves.
Everyone has a way they set up their learning spaces and engaging with students which can reveal their biases. Some educators have a tendency to look left or right or call on girls more or usually call on people in the front or back of the room. Similarly, we may unconsciously favour students of certain backgrounds in how often we use their names. These are not behaviours we consciously plan, yet many of us have them. How might we surface these biases? Tracking is one way we might do this.
If tracking is done by a colleague, agree on what they are looking for and how long they will be looking (it’s worth being aware here of The Hawthorne effect which occurs when people behave differently because they know they are being watched). See Figure 1 for a tracking template and Figure 2 is a completed observation of movement around a class. What does the teacher movement make you wonder?
Figure 1
Figure 2
If your students are doing the tracking, Jay Wamsted (2021) suggests having a direct conversation with their class about these kinds of unconscious biases and the benefits of tracking them honestly. This models the idea that we all have implicit biases, and it’s OK to get help in identifying them as the first step in reducing them. You may get students to keep their own tally based on your interactions with them or have nominated trackers for certain blocks of time. Some suggestions to support this process are below.
Make clear up front why you are gathering this information and how it will be used.
Ask for student input into how you might decrease your bias.
Start with something to track that they can do individually for a short amount of time. For example, 5 minutes noting when you make eye contact with them might be a place to start. You are building trust that you are going to use the information, and use it thoughtfully.
Ask for their feedback when you try a new strategy.
You can also track your own bias. Which students do you talk about most outside of school? Why? Which students do you choose first for particular tasks? Why?
Another idea!
See this post by Jay Wamsted https://www.edutopia.org/article/simple-way-self-monitor-bias
References
Quinn, D.M. (2021). How to Reduce Racial Bias in Grading: New research supports a simple, low-cost teaching tool. Education Next, 21(1), 72-78.
Wamsted, J. (2021, January 22). A Simple Way to Self-Monitor for Bias. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/simple-way-self-monitor-bias
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