Published in the BPS' British Journal of Educational Psychology, the study found that teachers judged an identical piece of work as being of poorer quality if it was presented as being written by a student of lower, rather than higher socio-economic status (SES).
The findings highlight the unconscious biases that could be contributing to the relative underperformance of children from poorer backgrounds.
416 in-service and trainee teachers took part in the study which found that teachers who graded the work of a student from lower SES were significantly harsher in their grading compared to those who were shown the work of a student of higher SES, with a 4.4 per cent grading difference.
