Overview
During this module, you will learn about biases and how they can affect your perceptions. It is important to understand your biases and acknowledge that you might have biases that you are not yet fully aware of. It is also important to be aware how biases can impact the education system as well as the people who work and learn within it.
The module consists of:
- Concepts — key learning ideas
- Reflections — questions that ask you to reflect on your own experiences
- Learn about how biases can affect your perceptions and behaviours towards others.
- Consider and reflect on your own biases.
- Understand the impact of biases in schools and districts.
Implicit Bias
A bias is a pre-conceived assumption, opinion, judgment, stereotype, or idea about an individual or a group of people.
Sometimes people are aware of their own biases, and sometimes they are not. People can often make judgements about others without even realizing they are doing it.
An awareness of your biases can help shape the way you treat others. Being open to recognizing your biases, understanding where they came from, and knowing how you can change them is an important step to becoming anti-racist.
As an Indigenous person I felt I wasn’t being supported at all in that class. Then I got a medal for passing [my grade] as an Indigenous student, because people have lower expectations for me.
Student, Minister’s Anti-Racism Youth Dialogue Series, 2022
This quote from an Indigenous student describes their lived experience about implicit bias from others. It shows how bias can lead to lower expectations for certain learners and colleagues based on racial or ethnic identity.
Implicit bias can affect the educational and/or professional opportunities and outcomes for many people across the education system. Your biases also have an impact on how you recognize and respond to racist behaviours and incidents.
Reflection
Challenging biases requires you to reflect on your own thinking and behaviour patterns.
Consider:
- What biases, judgements or assumptions might others make about you based on your identity?
