It’s a problem, but not mine: Exploring bias-related message acceptance among teachers

Abstract

Teachers’ judgements and interactions may be influenced by the backgrounds of their students, yet research shows that they may be reluctant to accept evidence relating to such biases. We investigated teachers’ perceptions of their own and others’ biases and explored whether a brief self-affirmation manipulation—which tends to reduce defensive responding— could increase their acknowledgement of personal and institutional bias. UK-based teachers (N = 288) completed either a values affirmation or control task before reading a mildly threatening research-based article about unconscious bias in education. Overall, teachers exhibited a bias blind spot, whereby they were more likely to perceive unconscious bias as an issue for other teachers to contend with rather than as a concern for themselves. Self-affirmed teachers were more likely to agree to have their teaching filmed to explore if/where personal biases may exist. Nevertheless, the self-affirmation did not alter levels of overall acceptance of the issue or perceptions of personal relevance. Exploratory analyses suggested that greater support for equity-enhancing teaching practices among teachers was associated with increased acknowledgement of bias and support for anti-bias initiatives. The findings suggest that self-affirmation may offer limited scope for improving acknowledgement of biases and that more work needs to be done to challenge and change the narrative of prejudice in schooling, from one that concerns only a few ‘bad apples’ to one that is accepted as an issue for all educators to be aware of and responsible for.