Bias In Primary Education Project

ESRI Dublin

Posted on 9th July 20249th July 2024 by lucy.haslam

On 5th of June, Katherin gave a talk titled How accurate are teacher perceptions of student academic attitudes, and do student social background and ethnicity matter? Evidence from England and Scotland at the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRI) in Dublin, Ireland.

Katherin presented two studies from the BIPE project that used large-scale secondary data for England and Scotland – respectively the Millennium Cohort Study and Growing Up in Scotland – to investigate discrepancies between teacher and student perceptions of student academic attitudes.

Both studies estimated such discrepancies using a residual method to then focus on whether socioeconomic or ethnic background of the students were systematically associated with larger or smaller discrepancies.

The first study explored to what extent discrepancies in teacher and student perceptions of student academic effort and enjoyment are linked to students’ socioeconomic background. The second study explored to what extent discrepancies in teacher and student perceptions of student misbehaviour in school are linked to students’ ethnic background and whether socioeconomic or ethnic school composition affect such link.

Slides from the workshop can be found on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.

University of Bristol, School of Education (SoE) Research Celebration Day

Posted on 9th July 20249th July 2024 by lucy.haslam

Teal background featuring an image of the SoE - a beige stone building with green trees in front.

On the 17th of May, Katherin and Valentina presented findings from the BIPE project at the University of Bristol, School of Education (SoE) Research Celebration Day.

Katherin and Valentina presented preliminary results from the BIPE project investigating how students’ demographic, socioeconomic, and ethnic background influences teachers’ perceptions of the school performance and academic attitudes of primary school students in England, Scotland, and Germany using three large-scale longitudinal survey: the Millennium Cohort Study, Growing Up in Scotland, and the National Educational Panel Study.

The presentation started with preliminary findings exploring the associations between student background and discrepancies between teacher perceptions of student academic attitudes (or abilities) and the students’ own reports of these attitudes (or cognitive assessment of these abilities). It then focused on three different studies that used multivariate analysis to investigate, respectively, social class & discrepancies in perceptions of student effort and enjoyment, ethnicity & discrepancies in perceptions of student misbehaviour, and socioeconomic status & teacher biased perceptions of students’ language skills.

Slides from the workshop can be found on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.

Skills Development Scotland

Posted on 9th July 20249th July 2024 by lucy.haslam

On 15th May, Katherin and Valentina held a webinar titled Inequalities and bias in schools: reasons, research and reactions for the Skills Development Scotland staff.

The webinar started with an overview on ‘traditional’ and recent academic research on socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in education and the role of teacher-student relationships. Throughout the webinar, reflective, creative group activities guided the discussions, encouraging participants to critically discuss BIPE preliminary findings on teacher bias and share their own experiences and views, whilst giving them the opportunity to link the theoretical discussions and empirical findings to their own experiences in their professional roles and in their own personal life.

Participant feedback was very positive highlighting that they appreciated the opportunity for reflective discussions on inequalities and bias.

If you are interested in hearing more about our teacher workshops, further information can be found on our flyer.

Slides from the workshop can be found on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.

Guest lecture at the University of the West of England

Posted on 12th February 202412th February 2024 by lucy.haslam

On 31st January, Katherin and Valentina were invited to give a guest lecture at the School of Education and Childhood of the University of the West of England in Bristol.

The lecture was delivered as part of the Policy and Contemporary Issues module offered to the students enrolled in Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) for Early Years, Primary, and Secondary education.

The lecture – titled Inequalities and bias in schools: using big data to detect injustices – provided an overview over ‘traditional’ and recent academic research on socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in education, focusing especially on the role of teacher-student relationships and school and classroom environments.

BIPE preliminary findings on teacher bias were presented, providing an example of how academic research making use of big data can be used to engage in conversations with educational practitioners and policy makers. Students were encouraged to be diagnostic in recognising the influence that big data has today on educational policy and critically evaluate its value, limitations, and complexity, especially when considering the topic of biases and inequalities in existing across schools in England today.

After the lecture, the students had the chance to engage in reflective and creative group activities in their seminar groups. Guided discussions encouraged PGCE students to critically discuss BIPE preliminary findings on teacher bias in light of their own experiences and views and reflect on potential strategies and changes to fight such biases.

Participant feedback was very positive highlighting both the interest in the topic and its relevance for their own professional development. Particularly, as the students had just finished their first 3-month placement in primary and secondary schools, they found the opportunity to relate their own first-hand placement experiences to the academic research and findings presented very useful and motivating.

If you are interested in hearing more about our teacher workshops, further information can be found on our flyer.

Slides from the workshop can be found on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.

Workshop for school staff in-service day at Edinburgh primary school

Posted on 23rd January 202423rd January 2024 by lucy.haslam

A photo of Katherin Barg and Valentina Perinetti Casoni outside of Gracemount Primary School

On 8th January, Katherin and Valentina gave a workshop titled Inequalities and bias in schools: reasons, research and reactions at Gracemount Primary School in Edinburgh. The event was organised as part of the school January in-service day and involved more than 50 members of staff including teachers, nursery staff, Pupil Support Assistants, and office staff.

The workshop started with an overview of ‘traditional’ and recent academic research on socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in education, focusing particularly on the role of teacher-student relationships and on recent evidence on achievement gaps in Scotland and England.

Gracemount school staff was then guided through two main interactive, reflective, and creative group activities. The first activity focused on encouraging workshop participants to critically discuss BIPE preliminary findings on teacher bias. Then to share their own experiences and views on potential mechanisms and explanations for misunderstandings and misperceptions between teachers and school staff on one side and pupils and their families on their other. The second activity gave the staff the opportunity to reflect on their own school and classroom practices and experiences in order to develop practical strategies to tackle bias and inequalities in the context of Gracemount school itself.

Initial feedback from participants was very positive, demonstrating a great deal of interest in the topic addressed by the workshop and its interactive activities. Participants said that, as a result, they felt encouraged to challenge themselves as teachers and education practitioners.

For example, one participant reported how the workshop might motivate themselves and other teachers to:

[…] become more aware of their biases[,] keep themselves accountable for how the children are perceived, [l]ook at our own behaviour and how it impacts our teaching[, and b]e honest with ourselves.

If you are interested in hearing more about our teacher workshops, further information can be found on our flyer.

Slides from the workshop can be found on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.

Workshop for teachers and education practitioners in Edinburgh

Posted on 28th November 202328th November 2023 by lucy.haslam

Photo of the Edinburgh skyline at golden hour

On 17th November, Katherin and Valentina gave a workshop titled Inequalities and bias in schools: reasons, research and reactions at the University of Edinburgh. The event was organised by the Moray House – School of Education and Sport as a Professional learning seminar open to a wide variety of school and education practitioners from Edinburgh.

The interactive workshop gave an overview over ‘traditional’ and recent academic research on socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in education and the role of teacher-student relationships. Reflective, creative group activities guided the discussions, encouraging participants to critically discuss BIPE preliminary findings on teacher bias and share their own experiences and views, whilst giving them the opportunity to develop strategies for their classrooms and schools to tackle bias and inequalities.

Participant feedback was very positive highlighting the importance and impact of such activities. Participants said that the workshop empowered them not only to be more critical and perceptive of the biases and inequalities that occur in school, but also to be more confident in challenging such biases and inequalities. For example, one teacher highlighted how the workshop motivated themselves and other teachers to:

[…] reflect on their biases and work out why certain [student] behaviours are viewed as being more able or capable […and to] realise the system also has biases within it: work has to be done at an individual level at first but schools as institutions need to also reflect/change.

If you are interested in hearing more about our teacher workshops, further information can be found on our flyer.

Slides from the workshop can be found on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.

Valentina presents at the 2023 Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies Annual Conference

Posted on 17th October 202317th October 2023 by lucy.haslam

Visual identity for the BSA 2023 conference

On 9th October, Valentina presented at the 2023 Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies (SLLS) Annual Conference – Life Courses in Times of Uncertainty held in Munich, Germany.

At the 2023 SLLS Conference, Valentina presented preliminary results for a work-in-progress BIPE paper investigating ethnic biases in English state primary schools. The paper explores to what extent teacher perceptions of students’ school effort are in agreement with students’ own reported school effort. First, it considers whether any discrepancies between the two are systematically linked to the student ethnic background, then it investigates the impact of the school ethnic composition on these patterns of ethnic teacher biases.

Preliminary empirical evidence shows that teacher perceptions of students’ school effort are not entirely in agreement with students’ own reports: indeed, they appear to be biased based on the ethnic background of the student in question. We also find evidence that the more contact a teacher has with students of a certain ethnicity, the less their perception of students of that specific ethnicity will be negatively biased.

Slides from the presentation can be viewed on our ‘Materials and publications’ page.

Panel session at ‘Into Headship’ event at Moray House School of Education and Sport

Posted on 10th October 202310th October 2023 by lucy.haslam

We contributed to a panel session for the Into Headship programme at Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh. This PG programme provides Scotland’s national qualification for school headship.

The session we contributed to was attended by around 50 aspiring head teachers and focused on the Scottish government’s policy that aims to close the poverty attainment gap. We had a chance to present some of our recent findings and link them to attendants questions about processes that contribute to social inequalities in education.

Valentina presents at the 2023 XX ISA World Congress of Sociology

Posted on 12th July 202312th July 2023 by lucy.haslam

On 30th June, Valentina presented at the International Sociological Association (ISA) XX World Congress of Sociology – Resurgent Authoritarianism: The Sociology of New Entanglements of Religions, Politics, and Economies held in Melbourne, Australia.

At the 2023 ISA Conference, Valentina presented preliminary results for a work-in-progress BIPE paper investigating the socio-economic gradient in teacher biased perceptions of students’ academic abilities in England, Scotland, and Germany. The paper explores to what extent teacher assessments of students’ language skills are inaccurate – i.e., biased – and whether this inaccuracy is (partially) mediated by student behaviour in the classroom, student academic attitudes, and parental involvement in children’s education.

In all three countries, preliminary empirical evidence shows how teacher perceptions are not entirely accurate, indeed they appear to be biased based on the socio-economic background of the student in question. In England, this bias appears to be mediated mostly by student behaviour; in Scotland by both student behaviour and student academic attitudes; in Germany by parental involvement in children’s education.

Slides from the presentation can be viewed on our ‘Materials and publications’ page.

Workshop at the Summer Conference of the Cabot Learning Federation

Posted on 12th July 202312th July 2023 by lucy.haslam

On Friday 7th July, we had the opportunity to run our teacher workshop ‘Inequalities and bias in schools: reasons, research and reactions’ at the Summer Conference of the Cabot Learning Federation.

The conference was held at City Academy Bristol and attended by more than 1,200 teaching staff. Our workshop participants came from different subject areas and had different school roles. Their discussions on reasons for discrepancies between teachers’ and students’ perceptions of students’ attitudes to school were extremely insightful and will help us interpret our results.