Teachers' Approaches to and Children's Perceptions of Social Inequality in the Classroom Context

Abstract

Many children’s daily lives are spent in the classroom environment, in which they develop their awareness of social groups, fairness, and equality based on their observations and evaluations of interactions in this setting. As children develop in this context, the presence of teacher and peer biases about other students in the classroom impacts what children consider legitimate ways to treat their peers from marginalized and minoritized groups. This dissertation, comprised of three empirical papers, aimed to examine children’s social cognition regarding social inequality in the classroom context as well as teachers’ beliefs and practices relevant to addressing social inequalities with students. Paper 1 examined elementary school teachers’ beliefs, values, and frequency regarding discussion of different types of group-based discrimination with their students. Paper 2 examined children’s evaluations, rectifying preferences, and reasoning regarding a teacher’s racial bias in academic recognition. Paper 3 compared children and adolescents’ expectations and reasoning about the future behavior of a teacher and peer who have shown racial bias in academic recognition. Together, this work provides insights into how social inequality may be addressed or recognized in the classroom by both teachers and students.