In the Classroom: A Path to Eliminating Implicit Bias in Education Staff

Published May 14, 2022

Implicit biases are unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that influence an individual's perception of the world and the people in it, affecting their behavior, decisions, and treatment of others. Due to the unconscious nature of implicit bias—also called unconscious or unintended bias—these attitudes are held without the individual being aware of them and may run counter to a person's conscious beliefs.

Educators are not immune to implicit biases. Many educators are likely unaware that they carry them into the classroom. These unconscious attitudes may affect how they treat students of non-majority social groups like children with disabilities. 

All students deserve an equitable and robust education, but implicit bias can prevent students with disabilities from receiving an education on par with their non-disabled peers. The first step in eliminating implicit bias from the classroom is to be aware that implicit bias exists within all of us whether we want it there or not.

Additionally, the only way to eliminate implicit bias is to have a genuine desire to do comprehensive self-analysis to identify past instances of inequitable treatment and prevent them in the future.

To aid in that process, researchers have suggested several exercises that would help educators alter thought patterns and attitudes, which would essentially retrain the brain away from implicit bias.

Regarding the following exercises, it's essential to understand that they are not meant to be performed "once and done" but performed regularly, preferably in ongoing staff development sessions.

Seek out interactions and relationships

The best way to rid oneself of stereotyped ideas about people from other social groups is to meet and engage with individual members of those groups. In this case, seeking out meaningful relationships with people with disabilities will help erase outdated and stereotyped attitudes and replace them with new positive associations.

Seek out information that runs counter to stereotypes

Adding information sources about people with disabilities helps to counter stereotyped attitudes. Exposure to news sites devoted to disability and accessibility issues is a great way to erode stereotypes and become familiar with the issues relevant to students with disabilities.

Focus on the individual, not the group

No two people are alike, including students with disabilities. Thus, nothing about how individual students are approached should be "one size fits all." Focusing on individual abilities and personalities helps to erode stereotypes about the group.

Focus on similarities, not differences

Getting to know students individually and seeing the world from their perspective can help educators discover common interests they might share with their students with disabilities. Focusing on common ground—whether it's a band or an author, or anime—serves to break down stereotyped thinking and helps educators forge genuine relationships with students with disabilities and win their trust.

Take time to reflect

When humans are bombarded with lots of information or faced with a swift decision, our brains often turn to unconscious stereotypes to help us make sense of it all. Stereotypes are shortcuts, and our brains get very comfortable with them precisely because they are so convenient.

But to stop our brains from taking the shortcut, it's necessary to hop on the scenic route now and then and take the time to reflect on past perceptions, judgments, behavior, and decisions. Taking the time to learn lessons from past behavior is an exercise that will help inform future decision-making. Lessons learned on the scenic route can slowly rewire the brain so that the stereotype shortcut is used less and less in favor of informed and deliberative decision-making.

Education and accountability never stop

As stated previously, eliminating implicit bias and stereotyped thinking is an ongoing process. Continued education for school staff is necessary, as is continuously practicing the above exercises.

While eliminating implicit bias will always be a work in progress, it's also important to hold oneself to account continuously. And doing so means that inequitable behavior isn't allowed a pass simply because implicit bias was triggered unconsciously.

Continuous self-monitoring of perceptions, judgments, behavior, and decisions about implicit bias is the best way to establish accountability on an ongoing basis.

 

PDF Remediation Software - Free Online Event!

Join us on Tuesday, April 9th, at 1 PM ET for a free online event to explore how to evaluate and select PDF remediation software for your business. Click here to learn more about this event and to register.

Click here to see our Events Calendar.

Accessibility.com's 2024 events will utilize the Zoom Events platform, offering a virtual expo hall for attendees to meet with prospective vendors. If your company is interested in being part of the expo hall, don't hesitate to get in touch with Amanda@Accessibility.com.

Vendor Directory

Accessibility.com offers the premier impartial listing of digital accessibility vendors.  Search for products and services by category, subcategory, or company name.  Check out our new Vendor Directory here.

Comments