Unconscious bias and disadvantaged pupils.
Could it be possible that what teachers do unintentionally in the classroom, despite all the strategies and funding in place, is helping to grow or maintain the disadvantage gap?
The institutional bias in education against pupils from a lower socio-economic status is well known. We know that test papers are written against ‘middle-class’ expectations: English papers that ask for written pieces around travel, hotels or a foreign holiday have been recent examples. Most teachers come from middle-class backgrounds, as do the examiners and the curriculum planners. That already stacks the odds against a working-class pupil. If you want to think more about this have a read of ‘Equity in Education’ by Lee Elliot Major and Emily Briant, it’s a great book for those looking to level the playing field for your students.
What I’m really interested in at the moment is the wealth of research that talks about the unconscious bias a teacher has at classroom interaction level. It’s not something I’ve heard talked about much in terms of having an impact on students but there are reams of research papers on the effects – I’ve included links to some at the end of the article. Here’s a bit of a summary and, most importantly some ways to work to improve outcomes as a result of the knowledge.
We all hold biases that reflect what we expect people to be like, based on our own experience as well as what we learn from others, the media and society as a whole. In a classroom of 30 young people our brains are continually making quick, instinctive actions and reflexive shortcuts, it’s the only way to keep the plates spinning. I’m just speaking here about biases around socio-economic backgrounds there is also research about biases involving race, gender and other characteristics all of which are worth thinking about.
These biases affect how teachers interact with children from a low socio-economic status (SES) right from early in their education. Even in studies with pre-school teachers they are less likely to call on lower SES children and have shorter interactions with them (Goudeau et al. 2023). These may only be small differences but if they are repeated across interactions in every class, with every teacher and each year the impact would soon mount up.
Research has also looked at how teachers treat identical work differently depending on who they believe it comes from. Identical work where teachers believe it comes from a lower SES pupil results in a significantly worse grade and lower ability groupings for the child (Doyle et al. 2023). Teachers judge low SES pupils as lower achievers academically even when test scores suggest otherwise. In classroom observations it has also been found that teachers actually behave in different ways towards lower SES children, they show less warmth, give less eye contact and give lower quality feedback (Olczyk et al. 2022).
Our ‘disadvantaged’ pupils already have huge barriers to overcome in terms of the pressures of living in poverty (and almost a third of our students live beneath the poverty line). They already have barriers in terms of the institutional biases, the vocabulary they have been exposed to, their access to books and resources, their housing, their health and lots more. Getting a poorer diet of support and interaction from teachers in the classroom is the opposite of what they need.
So, what can we do about it? What is the solution?
Again, the solution is research led; you need:
1) An awareness of the bias
2) A concern about the consequences
3) A knowledge of how best to replace the bias
1) An awareness of the bias
As a teacher, the immediate thought is, ‘well, that’s not me, I treat all pupils in my classroom equally’. Unfortunately, research also tells us that teachers are more likely to perceive that unconscious bias is an issue for others than themselves. There is lots of research that demonstrates that humans tend to have an over-rated view of their own abilities. Studies show consistently, for example, that 80-90% of drivers rate themselves above average. The point of unconscious bias is that it is…. unconscious. We don’t intend to treat students differently, but the first step is understanding that we probably do. If you’re still not sure, have a look at some of the research sources I’ve linked to – there’s plenty of evidence. If you’re still dubious, and you’re brave then video yourself teaching a few times – analyse the amount of questions you give, the time you spend on individual interactions and the feedback you share.
2) A concern about the consequences
The disadvantage gap is well publicised, as is the fact that it stubbornly refuses to close despite the pupil premium funding being thrown at it. It grows across a pupils educational journey and is now 19.2 months by the end of secondary school (https://epi.org.uk/annual-report-2024-disadvantage-2/). As well as the national picture, how do these figures reflect in your context. I’d say, in terms of the schools I work with there is a consistent gap in progress and attainment and disadvantaged pupils are over-represented in absence, suspension and exclusion statistics. What are the potential consequences of unconscious bias across your setting?
3) A knowledge of how best to replace the bias
I think there are two areas to look at here – the system practices that a leader could put in place and the personal practices you could work on as teacher. Here is a series of questions to ask and areas to think about:
System practices:
· CPD
Are your teaching staff aware of unconscious bias and the research around it? Do they understand the background of your cohort, and do they have empathy for some of the barriers that they face? We offer training around unconscious bias and around understanding poverty for school staff. We also work to help schools understand the socio-economic barriers that face their cohorts. Get in touch if you’re interested in any support around this.
· Curriculum
Is your curriculum relevant to your pupils? Do you have working-class role models in your learning? Does cultural capital mean exposing pupils to working-class culture as well as that which a middle-class background deems to be worthwhile?
· Equitable grading practices
How can grading and moderation be made more equitable? How can the background of a pupil and the unconscious bias we may hold be removed from the grading, assessment and feedback process?
· Data Analysis
What does the data in our setting show us about the representation of lower SES pupils in sets, in subjects or around progress? Do we keep a check on this? Do we know which teachers are most successful with disadvantaged pupils are where are bright spots are? How can we replicate these?
· High expectations for all
Are our expectations the same for every pupil? Do we have high aspirations for the outcomes of all of our cohort?
· Relational practice
Building relationships with students and their families and understanding them as individuals can be part of school culture. Do we train our staff to do this? Is our behaviour culture set up around relational practice?
· Challenge stereotypes
Where we hear or see stereotypes and generalisations being made by school staff do we challenge it?
Personal practices:
· Relational practice
If we understand and relate to our pupils as individuals and build relationships with each one, then we can understand and empathise with them. Understanding and empathy leads to less generalising and stereotyping, stronger relationships allow us to respond more closely to pupil need.
· Grading
Are their grading processes we can add to our practice to ensure that we assess equitably and feedback well to all students?
· Look for feedback
Who would come and look at your practice for you? Can you video your lessons or ask a colleague to come and look at the interactions you have with different young people in your classes?
· Analyse yourself
Can you look at who you question and how often, at the amount of feedback and input you give to different pupils and the attention you give to different individuals?
· Classroom techniques
There are classroom techniques that can help reduce biases. Tools that encourage a fairer spread of questioning and that promote equitable participation from all pupils can help here.
· Mixed groups
If you’re doing group work mix pupils in terms of ability and background.
· Apply rules consistently
It’s easy to have a different approach depending on whether you like a student or how engaged you perceive them to be generally in your lessons. If you have a patient forgiving relational approach with the students you like, have it with all of them.
As always, this won’t be a totally comprehensive piece of writing, it’s just some ideas and thoughts. You’ll have to apply them to your context and evaluate them against your cohort and their needs. I would suggest having a closer look at the research behind this though. I’ve just included a few links below – there are plenty more out there.
Some research to read:
Urhahne, D. and Wijnia, L. (2021) ‘A review on the accuracy of teacher judgements’ Educational Research Review
Olczyk, M. et al. (2022) ‘Teacher judgements, student social background, and student progress in primary school’
Lomholt, R. (2025) ‘What is teacher awareness, and can teachers use it to overcome their expectation bias? – A thematic analysis of research’ Social Psychology of Education
Doyle et al. (2023) ‘It’s a problem, but not mine: Exploring bias-related message acceptance among teachers’ Social Psychology of Education
Goudeau et al. (2023) ‘Unequal opportunities from the start: Socioeconomic disparities in classroom participation in pre-school’ Journal of experimental psychology
Ali H. Al-Hoorie (2016) ‘Can you be prejudiced against your own students? Measuring teachers unconscious bias in the classroom’
