Unconscious Bias; from the Classroom to the Boardroom

 I recall writing one of many hundreds of reports produced during my teaching career. Although I had quantitative data on which to assess this particular year 7 student, when it came to writing a personal comment, the sentence coffers were empty, tiredness had set in and I had 44 more reports to write that day. I looked at his surname and remembered that his family was from one of the rougher estates in the borough; his brother had been expelled from my tutor group a few years back. I made that connection and wrote a perfunctory comment without too much thought; 'Jamie is performing at an acceptable level but lacks any great desire to succeed and has a tendency to be disruptive'. There was an occasion I’d had to tell him off for talking so it wasn't an unfair comment, I justified to myself. But it was Jamie's brother I was thinking of, not Jamie. Writing reports is a big job, decisions need to be made quickly to hit deadlines and you can't trawl through your memory banks to make a 100% accurate assessment of every child. Hard working teachers will (quite rightly) stand by this, however the effects of unconscious biases such as the one displayed towards Jamie can have far reaching and life long effects on particular groups of students. The example of reputational bias above gives a subtle but corrosive explanation for the lack of progress we've made with social mobility in the last 50 years.

Jamie’s sister Ashley was a higher achiever than Jamie and showed obvious leadership abilities from a young age. Ashley was the kid who rounded up her peers to build huts with bold ‘keep out’ signs and strategically placed branches to stop nosy grown ups peering in. Some adults considered her bossy or a ‘bit of a madam’ as one teacher put it. As Ashley progressed through school, she became less gregarious; a steady stream of teachers had instructed her to be quiet, stop being bossy and to keep her head down. Not necessarily bad advice although it is becoming clearer that boys are rewarded for speaking up in the classroom and girls are rewarded for being quiet and acquiescent – it’s no great surprise that in the business world, we struggle to construct a pipeline of female leaders and that women are less confident about sharing ideas in meeting settings. The hierarchy in schools perpetuates the myth that women aren’t natural leaders; 37% of heads are women although they make up two thirds of the teaching workforce. Governors who select heads are probably unaware of their own potential biases around masculinity and leadership when they select male head teachers at interview. Students like Ashley and Jamie unconsciously absorb patterns like this which in turn reinforce the gender constructs they see all around them; gendered toys and books, advertising which sexualizes women and hyper-masculinizes men, and violent or sexual music video culture. 

Gender stereotyping is pervasive in schools and our unconscious biases serve as a mechanism to reinforce age old and often irrelevant stereotypes. In the very early years of nursery, staff can unconsciously reward children for fulfilling gender stereotypes e.g. strong baby boys and pretty baby girls. In primary schools, I've heard teachers asking for 'two strong boys' to help lift a bench where there isn't yet any gender strength differential  - seemingly harmless, however language like this reinforces the message that girls are passive and weak whilst boys are active and strong. Along with parents, teachers help set the trajectory for a student's future; one incident of a teacher's unconscious bias towards Jamie or Ashley might have minimal effect, but picture the effects over time of an education system that fails to challenge the innate biases of its staff. 

 It makes excellent business sense to tackle unconscious bias at corporate level; performance management, recruitment, productivity and ultimately, the bottom line are all benefactors of a committed and consistent approach to tackling unconscious bias. Sifting through our biases and selecting the best applicant for a role or promotion taxes our time and energy, as well as taking a good deal of self-awareness and honesty. Such effort is a worthwhile investment as it increases workplace diversity and improves equality; the advantages of this are clear and proven. Not only is there a business imperative to make unconscious bias awareness part of the fabric of an organisation, there is a moral imperative, which equates to a fairer and more equal society.

However, it is a significant missed opportunity to leave the hard work solely to the world of business. The Jamies and Ashleys of this world have probably already been funneled into jobs that may or may not suit their talents and personalities. But if their skills aren’t unveiled and honed, we risk losing top talent due to bias around class, gender, ethnicity and so on. The job of educators is to give young people the best opportunity to become happy, productive members of society. How will the groups most affected by the lack of social mobility, such as white working class boys, ever have equal opportunity if their teachers aren't taught how to overcome their neurologically driven biases? How will we genuinely give girls the future opportunity to head up a FTSE 100 company if the very set up of the schools they walk into each day doesn't reflect a balanced approach to gender and leadership? How will true diversity become a rich and valued element of every workplace until we gently confront and overturn the innate biological fear response to those who look different to us?

Giving our teachers and school governors tools to tackle unconscious bias will help stem the flow of subtle prejudice into the workplace; it will educate the next generation by default - a preemptive strike that could not only save businesses millions but create a fairer career jungle gym for the next generation to climb.

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