We all succumb to bias in one way or another, and many times this can ground us in ways that make us feel comfortable and secure. Within each bias however is the danger that whomever our bias goes against can be misrepresented, misaligned or in the worst cases, treated unfairly.

For teachers, this can make a huge impact on how we deal with, teat and work alongside students. These biases can be seen in our schools every day; like most aspects of human frailty, they are often easier to spot in others than ourselves. How many do you recognize in your School...yourself?

Status Quo Bias

• Known as keeping things as they should be or have always been, at best this provides familiarity, at worst, complacency against any form of change. Where any change is seen as a loss, the emotive state of status quo bias can affect decision-making on a grand scale. Any teacher who has suggested some new initiative in a new setting to a response of, “but we’ve always done it this way” is experiencing this bias. Does this sound familiar? This is different to status quo ante, where there is a perception of superiority over a commonly-held viewpoint over a new systemic change. In Education this can pervade even the selection of reading material for a class.

Confirmation Bias

• This is the tendency to favour, recall or interpret information in a manner which confirms our own beliefs. This can become more extreme and entrenched if someone is defending their opinion, even when greeted with the same information as another party. That troublesome lower group are being taught again, and when one student calls out, it can psychologically reinforce the opinion one might have of that group, rather than factoring in a multitude of environmental issues which might have caused this behaviour. Confirmation bias is pervasive in schools, and its impact cannot be underestimated. The biggest danger with confirmation bias is seeking out information which proves an in-built hypothesis, ignoring any evidence to the contrary. 

Macabre Constant

• This is a relatively new term, explored by André Antibi, which suggested that teachers and lecturers unconsciously assumed three groups of ability within any group — high, medium and low, no matter what the actual ability of the group themselves. This can create an artificial hierarchy of students.

Publication Bias

• We are largely hungry animals for new information, ideas and practices as teachers, but would be wise to view our diet of literature using the lens of publication bias. There is a certain diet which publishers and course providers feed, and this is based on interest as well as need, thus perpetuating publication bias. Take as an example the term Outstanding. Introduced by OFSTED in 2009 as the highest of its four Inspection categories in England, this word quickly grew in popularity.

• Indeed, research into its prevalence in the United Kingdom showed strong growth roughly two years after its introduction, where the use of Outstanding in other English-speaking country searches showed static use. This extended to Publishing houses and Educational suppliers, where using ‘Outstanding’ has almost come to represent ‘this will get you through a successful inspection.” For the sake of disclosure, I should admit to doing this myself.

Cognitive Bias

• This is perhaps the most commonly-known types of bias, demonstrated in patterns of illogical judgement, based around an perception of social reality. In reality, it is the brain’s way of using rules of thumb to make decisions and inform our life. In the book Freakonomics for example, it was shown that swimming pools killed more children in the US than handguns. This is at odds with our available information, assumptions (pools are good, guns are bad), and even the lack of statistical data to support this argument available to us. The statement has an impact precisely due to our cognitive biases toward both pools and guns. Cognitive Bias covers a much wider area, taking into account many of the areas covered in this section, but can be seen as the umbrella term for irrationality. It is also notoriously difficult to correct, especially in view of the range of addictions supported by irrational thoughts. One area of exploration in cognitive psychology has had the most success when those with a cognitive bias are held fully accountable for their attributions.

• Cognitive bias can be seen within an Education setting in a macro or micro environment — from Education Ministers pushing forward proposals on the basis of their own schooling experiences rather than grounded research, to teachers refusing to use more appropriate means to deliver lessons.

• To blame everything on cognitive bias however is to stand by a fire rather than trying to put it out or discover what caused the fire in the first place. It is easy to rally against what could be simply described as human nature, but genuine impact is made when someone stands and says, “so what can we do about it?”

Observer Bias

• • No overview of bias in education would be complete without examination of the observer bias, and this is included as an important bias to be aware of in our surroundings rather than a politicised rant against observation of teachers or students in the classroom (where, interestingly, one seems legitimate and the other morally wrong).

  • Although this dovetails with confirmation bias, observer bias technically is better described as the observer-expectancy effect, where the observer directly or indirectly influences those being observed to confirm their own hypotheses, sometimes ignoring adverse information.

  • A similar bias can be seen in the Hawthorne Effect, where participants behave differently due the very act of being observed. How often do we change when teaching and a visitor walks in? We in effect start delivering the type of teaching we believe they would expect to see. Even aware of this, I have noticed that I tend to ‘liven up’ with another adult in the classroom, speaking louder, clearer and with more enunciation. I am effectively presenting a better me, when of course my students should be getting a better me as a matter of course.

Attribution Bias

• This is a common bias within Education, and is essentially a judgement made around someone based our own beliefs or assumptions. Those situations where we are frustrated by someone’s behaviour because we wouldn’t do it that way is a classic example of attribution bias.

• These judgements can impede collegiality, damage working relationships and also encourage the silo-like nature of teaching both within a setting and in a wider nature. This bias even threads back to biblical misattribution; “treat others as you would like to be treated,” should logically read, “treat others as they would like to be treated.”

Before doom and gloom sets in, there is hope! It has been found that attributional retraining can have a positive academic impact among students, especially where there is a recognition that internal factors have more effect than external factors (or excuses). Put simply, this correlates well with the recent growth in interest surrounding Mindset, and acknowledges that taking responsibility for self-influence rather than investing in a blame culture creates a more sustainable student outlook.

There is an awful lot to contend with when considering all the bias we may experience, or even demonstrate ourselves through our teaching. Some teachers are more aware of these habits than others, but awareness that they even exist is important.

Consider for the moment the last three important decisions you made. What or who had a bias on those decisions; were they genuinely down to free will or independent thought, or were you influenced by other means?

This is an extract from the book “Thinking about Thinking: Learning Habits Explored,” by Stephen Lockyer, published in October 2015.

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• How teachers remember their own childhoods affects how they challenge school inequities | The Conversation | April 27, 2021

• Bias-Proof Your Classroom | Scholastic | These tips will help you make an effort to keep unconscious bias out of your teaching.

• Bias Starts as Early as Preschool, but Can Be Unlearned | Edutopia | June 4, 2019 |  A new study finds that children show bias at a surprisingly young age. But teachers have ways to address this and create a welcoming classroom.

• Avoiding Teacher Bias and Erroneous Beliefs | ThoughtCo Blog | Feb. 09, 2019 | Almost every teacher has his/her own personal biases that she/he needs to avoid. This article describes six potentially damaging forms of teacher bias that teachers should avoid in order to provide their students with the best education possible.

• How Do You Create an Unbiased Classroom? | University of Arizona | Aug. 16, 2016 | 5 ways to ensure a balanced academic environment for your students.

• A Simple Way to Self-Monitor for Bias | Edutopia | January 22, 2021 | Teachers concerned that they might be showing bias against students in marginalized groups can use a short checklist for self-assessment.

• A Look at Implicit Bias and Microaggressions | Edutopia | March 25, 2019 | A primer on the impact of implicit biases in schools and how they can be expressed by students and faculty.

• 5 Keys to Challenging Implicit Bias | Edutopia | March 14, 2016 | Challenge implicit biases by identifying your own, teaching colleagues about them, observing gap-closing teachers, stopping "tone policing," and tuning into such biases at your school.

• 5 Things Educators Can Do to Address Bias in Their School | Edjustice | October 11, 2019 | Every day, educators, administrators and students carry with them attitudes and beliefs that may affect their understanding of a situation, their interactions with others, and their decision-making.

• Four Ways Teachers Can Reduce Implicit Bias |Greater Good Magazine | October 28, 2016 | We're all subject to bias. Here are tips to help teachers treat all of their students with dignity and care.

• Tips to Help Teachers Eliminate Their Unconscious Bias | Study.com | December 2017 | Of all the things that don't belong in your teacher's toolbox, unconscious bias is one of them. Here are ways to identify and overcome this obstacle to learning.

• Awareness of Implicit Biases | Yale University | Teachers should consider a variety of strategies and benefits for revealing and addressing implicit bias, both in themselves and their students.