Knowing and moderating unconscious bias: a training programme for primary teachers

Background

1. What is unconscious bias?

Our brains are exceptionally good at calculating the statistics of repetition. Unconsciously,
quickly and efficiently, we calculate the likelihood that one event will follow another. This
allowed us to learn to use the grammar of our language, to know the effects of emotions on
people’s behaviour, or to recognise which groups of people we like (in-groups) and which do
not like (out-groups). These form our unconscious biases. Unconscious biases happen
automatically and outside of our control. They are the brain’s immediate response to people
and situations based on previous experience and influenced by our background and culture.
They allow us to react quickly to events and therefore can protect us in times of threat.

It is important to stress that unconscious bias is different from bigotry or conscious prejudice
where different groups of people are consciously judged negatively, and these judgements
are acted upon. Unconscious biases are the use of past learning that has never been
challenged, that drives behaviour based on experience. Even though these biases have never
been consciously noticed, they drive behaviour unconsciously, which is why it is important to
deal with them. They are better described as unconscious hypocrisy – and everyone has them!

A common example of the effect of unconscious bias is when we meet a new person who
reminds us of someone we know well. Often, we unconsciously project the characteristics of
the familiar person on to the unknown person. This biases our response to the newcomer
either positively if we like the person we know well or negatively if we do not like them.
Imagine the effect this might have in a classroom, when talking to students or when
recruiting.

Conscious thinking uses different systems in the brain to allow us to work through problems
systematically. We use this system to compare and contrast ideas. Without this, we would
not be able to decide which of two holidays suit us better or write an argued case in an essay.
Slow thinking is much harder work than fast thinking, but it is necessary sometimes when we
need to judge or determine the value of a situation for us. By bringing our unconscious biases
into conscious awareness, we can determine whether they are still appropriate behaviours.
We may choose to fight against an unconscious bias that we find is left over from our parents’
or peers’ ways of thinking. When we become aware of an unconscious bias, it changes to an
implicit bias.

Once a bias is no longer unconscious, we become responsible for it. By recognising and
acknowledging our biases, we can find ways to mitigate their impact on our behaviour and
decisions (Equality Challenge Unit, 2013). Shifting unconscious biases can be quite hard
because of other idiosyncrasies in the way our brains work. The first is that we all have a
confirmation bias. When we read new information, we pay much greater attention to the
information that confirms what we already believe than to new information. We are also
more likely to forget information that are contrary to our beliefs – the belief bias. These biases
have the unfortunate consequence of strengthening our already existing unconscious biases.
The first step to addressing unconscious biases is to discover which ones you have. Bringing
these to consciousness allows you to begin the process of breaking these habits of thought
by first turning them into implicit biases and then creating new habits of thought.

2. Does it matter in education?

A large body of evidence shows that gaps in educational and labour market attainment
between individuals of different socioeconomic backgrounds open up early in life (Heckman
2011 Checchi and van de Werfhorst 2018) and are connected not only to cognitive skills but
also to cognitive skills, such as communication abilities, perseverance, initiative, team
working skills, self-control, self-esteem, lack of disruptive behaviour, etc. (Heckman et al.
2006, Chetty et al. 2011) Children’s expectations, moreover, are strong predictors of
attainment and of dropping out of education (Yates et al. 2011), even after controlling for
demographic characteristics, family background and grades (e.g. Chowdry et al. 2013). Much
effort has been put in assessing programs aimed at increasing such non-cognitive skills and
embedding them into teaching practices. Returns on investments in early childhood are
higher than those on investments at later stages (Chowdry and MacBride, 2017; Heckman,
2013)

Teachers influence children’s actual cognitive (attainment) and non-cognitive (behaviour,

character, engagement), outcomes as well as their expectations both directly through
teaching feedback and monitoring and, indirectly, through learning environments. There is
solid evidence that discrimination, stereotyping and unconscious bias affect educational
outcomes. An original study by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) in American primary schools
found that teachers’ expectations had a powerful impact on students’ achievements
(Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968). More recently, research has shown that teachers’ diminished
expectations of children with names associated with low socio economic status affect
student’s cognitive performance (Figlio, 2005), and teachers can unconsciously rate children
differently on aspects of performance that are subjective. This has been shown in essays
designated with either German or Turkish names (Sprietsma, 2009), or assessment of African
American children’s behaviour, which was rated as more disruptive and inattentive by
teachers from a different ethnic group (Dee, 2005). Conversely, optimistic teachers’
expectations have been found to particularly benefit the achievement of students from
minorities in the US (Jussim and Harber, 2005).
Unconscious bias training (UBT) shows potential to be a very useful and relatively inexpensive
tool to reduce involuntary sources of discrimination: there is evidence that UBT works for
doctors (Teal et al, 2012) and that debiasing can have important impacts (Bohnet, 2015), but
it is as yet little used and untested in education, in spite of evidence that it can affect pupil’s
outcomes (Perry, 2017; Gilliam et al, 2016; Campbell, 2015). There is also an extant literature
showing that such training needs to be adequately designed in order to be effective both
ineffectual compliance and moral licensing have been observed and particular care needs
therefore to be devoted to designing a programme that is fit for purpose.
3. Moderating Unconscious Bias in the classroom: a teacher training programme
Our intervention consists of UBT designed specifically for primary school teachers based on
evidence and our own pilot studies in both the UK and Italy. Our theory of change is that
awareness of UB and concrete actions suggested to counter it (targeting classroom
environments, modes of communication and feedback, and teaching UB to children) will have
an impact on teacher practices, learning environments, and pupils’ attitudes and self-efficacy.
MDG carried out a pilot with a team of educationalists and psychologists with a sample of
primary UK teachers in 2016/17. The initial training sessions were developed with the idea of
stimulating the knowledge of unconscious prejudices and how they operate, Evidence from
this pilot suggested that t the first part of our intervention has impact on the classroom
environment, teaching materials and teacher’s awareness of the impact of UB. For example:
• Screening story books and all teaching materials to ensure people are not portrayed
stereotypically, to reduce the potential for unconscious bias developing from stereotypes. For
example, ensure materials positively represent non-traditional families, and a range of
cultural backgrounds and social classes. • Expose children to counter-stereotypical role
models in classroom space by hanging portraits ensuring diverse groups of people are
positively represented. • Promote understanding and sensitivity to differences in cultural
background, which may otherwise begin to foster unconscious bias. Raise issues with
colleagues and children where necessary (bystander intervention).
In 2017/18 MDG in collaboration with Pearson developed the training into a programme of
three labs, which in addition to the above also aimed at providing concrete methods to avoid
them both in communication and in evaluation. Schools taking part in the new pilot in Italy
received three training labs carried out by specialist trainers and provided us with data to
evaluate the effects of the programme. The training labs lasted 2-3 hours and happened at
several weeks interval from each other to allow time for reflection and for embedding the
proposed activates in elements of the teaching syllabus.

We presented the training as an opportunity to increase teaching effectiveness and

enjoyment, and explained that it would help address biases that naturally occur in the
environment, practise and behaviours of all those involved in education (from the producers
of materials all the way to pupils themselves) and that the training would have a positive
impact both on the teachers’ own practice and on the interaction with pupils and families, as
well as improving the educational and behavioural outcomes of all pupils, reducing the gaps
between those belonging to discriminated groups and others.

1. Generative lab to make teachers aware of UB, how it presents itself in their practice,
its cumulative impact and actions to prevent it. The lab included critical reading of
comic strips portraying in-group and out-group interactions, games and group
reflection, and provided tools to focus intervention in three distinct areas:
environments (e.g. considering role models, assessing classroom resources, modes of
parents’ engagement), teachers (e.g. class engagement, AI, feedback) and pupils
(group formation).
2. Replicative lab a package to teach UB to children (contributing to the social and
emotional dimension of learning), making use of growth mindset tools and discussing
ways of fostering inclusive participation through appreciative enquiry.
3. Evaluation lab to help teachers assess their progress and learn to sustain and embed
practice through programming curricula and activities, choosing and organising
resources and thinking about evaluation methods.