Roles of socioeconomic status, ethnicity and teacher beliefs in academic grading

Using social psychology to create inclusive education

Social psychological processes related to identities and stereotypes-such as threat, belonging uncertainty, identity incompatibility and bias-can be ignited by features and practices in educational contexts, often further disadvantaging members of minoritised or underrepresented groups. Such psychological processes are consequential and predict hard academic outcomes such as attainment and progression. Although this knowledge can be harrowing, it also gives us the power to intervene. We propose three ways in which social psychology can be used to help create more inclusive education systems: by using interventions wisely, working with teachers to collaboratively create inclusive classrooms, and by fighting bias. We offer concrete examples of how social psychology is helping to reduce educational inequalities in these ways, as well as some suggestions for the future.

Children's perceptions of social class discrimination: The role of age and situational factors in evaluating fairness

The present study examined 6 to 11-year-old British children's ability to identify and reason about the causes of a teacher's and mother's differential treatment based on a story character's class background. Children rated the fairness of such treatment and reasons about why a teacher or a mother selected a child for a coveted role. Children also completed measures of implicit class bias. Children rated differential treatment as more unfair when a working-class rather than an upper-class child received a negative decision in both vignettes. Older children rated decisions as unfair more than younger children did when a teacher was the perpetrator. Parents' educational level and implicit bias did not predict their ratings of unfairness. Older children attributed discrimination as the most likely cause of differential treatment in the teacher vignette. In contrast, younger children were as likely to attribute the cause of discrimination to being better or putting in more effort. For the teacher vignette, children were more likely to invoke discrimination than other reasons when a working-class child was not selected. The findings are discussed in relation to practical and theoretical implications.

Feeling well and doing well. The mediating role of school engagement in the relationship between student well-being and academic achievement

Students' well-being has become an important part of education policy in many countries. Research shows that well-being contributes to students' engagement in school, thereby supporting academic achievement. However, prior research has often neglected the interplay and multidimensionality of the constructs. The present study applied a six-dimensional student well-being model and a three-component school engagement model to untangle the differential associations of positive and negative well-being dimensions with the components of school engagement and academic achievement. Longitudinal mediation analyses using a sample of N = 754 Swiss secondary school students and two measurement points (Grade 7 and Grade 8) revealed differential associations of well-being dimensions with engagement components, but no direct effects on academic achievement. Enjoyment in school, as a dimension of student well-being, had an indirect effect on academic achievement, mediated through behavioral engagement. The results imply that fostering students' enjoyment in school may be a promising strategy to enhance their behavioral engagement and, in turn, promote their academic achievement.

Context matters: Diagnosing and targeting local barriers to success at school

We trialed a novel method aimed at reducing educational inequalities in any given school by tailoring an intervention to address the specific local social, cultural, and psychological barriers that contribute to those inequalities. In Study 1 (N = 2070), we validated measures in a student survey of barriers experienced by students ages 11-16 years in two schools in England. We used a pilot version of these measures to identify two barriers that appeared to be contributing in both schools to poorer attendance and behavioral records of Black versus Asian students and of lower socioeconomic status (SES) students versus higher SES students. These barriers consisted of perceptions that (a) the schools were biased against certain groups of students and that there were negative stereotypes about certain groups of students, and (b) teachers and students did not come from similar backgrounds. In Study 2, which was pre-registered, we administered a brief tailored intervention to target these barriers in students ages 11-14 years in the same two schools the following year (N = 1070). The intervention, which aimed to induce values affirmation and reveal hidden teacher-student similarities, improved the attendance of low-SES students by 0.20 SD (p = .009) and reduced the gap with their peers by 60%. Exploratory analyses indicated that the improvement in attendance was larger for students who reported perceiving greater levels of bias and poorer teacher-student relationships at baseline. The impact of the intervention on the behavioral records of Black students (p = .089) and low-SES students (p = .293) was not significant. These qualified but encouraging findings provide a basis for developing practical ways for individual schools to improve outcomes for their historically disadvantaged students.

Expected and unexpected long-term effects of values affirmation in school

BACKGROUND

An earlier study in a school in England found that a series of brief values affirmation writing exercises, performed over the course of a school year by students aged 11-14, increased the mathematics attainment of students of low socioeconomic status (SES).

AIMS

This pre-registered follow-up of the original study aims to investigate the long-term effects of values affirmation on low-SES students' attainment.

SAMPLE

The sample consisted of all students in the analytical sample of the original study who remained at the school and for whom the necessary data were available, N = 409 (95 low-SES).

METHODS

The students' results in high-stakes national standardized assessments at age 16, taken two to four years after the affirmation, were analysed.

RESULTS

The evidence did not support the pre-registered hypotheses that values affirmation would raise the attainment of low-SES students in mathematics and English. However, exploratory analyses suggested that for low-SES students in two of the three-year groups, the intervention increased Attainment 8, a broad policy-relevant measure of academic attainment, and increased the attainment of boys in English (in particular English Literature) but reduced the corresponding attainment of girls.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that the benefits of values affirmation can differ by student cohort and by school subject and that they might be time-limited in some circumstances. This suggests a set of hypotheses that future research could test in order to advance understanding of when values affirmation is, and is not, successful for school students over a sustained period.

The powerful impact of teacher expectations: a narrative review

In a narrative review we investigated teacher beliefs that moderate teacher expectation effects. An extensive literature search revealed that only three researchers had systematically examined (in at least three studies) teacher beliefs' differences and consequent expectation effects for students. Babad explored teachers who believed stereotypical information about students and showed how that bias translated into teacher-student interactions. Highly biased teachers had large negative self-fulfilling prophecy effects on student outcomes. Overall, the difference in contrasts between high and low bias teachers (those who did not accept stereotypes) was d = 0.92. Weinstein's research investigated teachers who believed all students should be treated similarly versus teachers who believed high and low achievers should be treated quite differently (low and high differentiating teachers). The average effect size of the differences between these teachers was d = 0.85. Rubie-Davies examined the idea that some teachers believe that all students can make large gains (high class-level expectations) whereas others believe their students will make little progress (low class-level expectations); the average effect size difference between high and low expectation teachers was d = 0.87. Hence, the review showed that effect size differences between these different teacher types were remarkably consistent, and all were large.

Who you know influences where you go: Intergroup contact attenuates bias in trainee teachers' school preferences

The vicious cycle of educational inequality may be maintained and perpetuated by teachers' lack of desire to work in socioeconomically deprived communities. Across two studies (Ntotal = 606), we experimentally investigated whether teachers' aversions to such settings could be mitigated by contact experiences with (a) people experiencing financial hardship and (b) children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Trainee teachers rated their levels of desire to work in schools that varied in terms of the socioeconomic backgrounds and diversity of their student populations. They also reported their contact experiences. Although, overall, teachers showed an aversion to working in a school that served a diverse and low-income community compared to one with average student demographics, this effect was attenuated when teachers had more prior contact with both close others in financial hardship and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. These findings were replicated across both studies. Further analyses also revealed that the relation between contact and school desirability may, at least in part, be mediated by changes in teaching self-efficacy. These findings demonstrate the potential value of teachers' contact with other groups as a method of reducing bias in education.

The promise and pitfalls of a strength-based approach to child poverty and neurocognitive development: Implications for policy

There has been significant progress in understanding the effects of childhood poverty on neurocognitive development. This progress has captured the attention of policymakers and promoted progressive policy reform. However, the prevailing emphasis on the harms associated with childhood poverty may have inadvertently perpetuated a deficit-based narrative, focused on the presumed shortcomings of children and families in poverty. This focus can have unintended consequences for policy (e.g., overlooking strengths) as well as public discourse (e.g., focusing on individual rather than systemic factors). Here, we join scientists across disciplines in arguing for a more well-rounded, "strength-based" approach, which incorporates the positive and/or adaptive developmental responses to experiences of social disadvantage. Specifically, we first show the value of this approach in understanding normative brain development across diverse human environments. We then highlight its application to educational and social policy, explore pitfalls and ethical considerations, and offer practical solutions to conducting strength-based research responsibly. Our paper re-ignites old and recent calls for a strength-based paradigm shift, with a focus on its application to developmental cognitive neuroscience. We also offer a unique perspective from a new generation of early-career researchers engaged in this work, several of whom themselves have grown up in conditions of poverty. Ultimately, we argue that a balanced strength-based scientific approach will be essential to building more effective policies.

"You did incredibly well!": teachers' inflated praise can make children from low-SES backgrounds seem less smart (but more hardworking)

Can teachers' inflated praise make children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds seem less smart? We conducted two preregistered experiments to address this question. We used hypothetical scenarios to ensure experimental control. An experiment with primary school teachers (N = 106, ages 21-63) showed that when a child from a low-SES (vs. high-SES) background succeeded in school, teachers attributed this success more to hard work and delivered more inflated praise (e.g., "You did incredibly well!") but less modest praise (e.g., "You did well!"). An experiment with primary school children (N = 63, ages 10-13) showed that when children learned that another child received inflated praise (while an equally performing classmate received modest praise or no praise), they perceived this child as less smart but more hardworking. These studies provide converging evidence that teachers' inflated praise, although well-intentioned, can make children from low-SES backgrounds seem less smart, thereby reinforcing negative stereotypes about these children's academic abilities.