Combatting Implicit Stereotypes in Education

The study consists of an implicit bias training (IBT) tailored for primary school teachers. The training consists of three sessions:
• Generative lab to develop understanding and awareness of the psychology and real-life consequences of implicit bias, tools to recognise in the teaching practice and actions to prevent it. The lab includes a presentation of relevant theory and applications through group activities and reflection. Activities to be conducted in class are assigned and explained
• Replicative lab to learn how to teach about implicit bias and stereotypes to children (contributing to the social and emotional dimension of learning) and how to develop and use growth mindset tools and foster inclusiveness. Activities to be conducted in class are assigned and explained
• Evaluative lab to help teachers assess their progress and sustain and embed practice through programming curricula and activities, choosing and organising resources and thinking about evaluation methods. Activities to be embedded in ongoing practice and a support network of other treated teachers are provided.

In between each lab, teachers will have some time to implement the proposed activities. The training will be conducted in small groups of 4th and 5th grade teachers in Italian Elementary Schools, and consists of nine sessions (three in-person and six online). The randomized controlled trial (RCT) will take place in the Italian regions of Piemonte and Campania, with randomization occurring at the school-building level (‘plesso’). All teachers enrolled in the trial within a participating ‘plesso’ will be randomly assigned to either the treatment group, receiving the training, or the control group, who will only answer the questionnaires. Participation is incentivized by offering teachers a 50-hour certification, covering training, self-study, and classroom experimentation. Teachers in the control group will have access to the training materials after the project is concluded.

## Recruitment and Compliance:

The project is carried out with the support of the Regional Scholastic Offices (USR) of Piemonte and Campania, who helped with the recruitment of the schools. These offices sent an email to school principals, inviting them to participate in the project.
The letter explicitly stated that participating teachers would be randomized into treatment and control groups, with the course being offered only to teachers in the treatment group, while the course content materials would be made available to control group teachers at the conclusion of the project. The communication clearly stated that schools participating in the project must consent to the collection of data on both teachers and students, in compliance with applicable privacy regulations.
The project’s funders (Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca and the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza), collaborators (Ufficio Scolastico Regionale Piemonte e Ufficio Scolastico Regionale Campania), and supporters (Save the Children and the Garante per l’infanzia e l’adolescenza ) were explicitly acknowledged.
Participation in the project was contingent upon parental consent for the processing of pupil data, who were provided with an information sheet about the program and a consent form.

d. Data Collection and Sources of Data: All data on teachers will be collected via two online questionnaires (before and after the intervention) implemented via Qualtrics. This information will be connected (for treated teachers) to the use of the website specifically designed for the training (https://cubeprogramme.unito.it/).

Pre-test and post-test data on pupils (both cognitive and socioemotional) are collected using paper-based booklets designed for children aged 9-11. Trained tutors will distribute the booklets to students and aid their completion during class time.

2024-12-03

2025-06-30

The key outcome for teachers will be their ability to recognise stereotypes, measured through the Stereotypes Identification Test (SIT). The primary outcome for students will be their perception of differential ability across different stereotypical groups, measured through a paper-based association test.

Both of these outcomes are tests that have been specifically constructed and piloted to measure people's ability to see and recognize stereotypes.

For teacher, the secondary outcomes will be their implicit bias awareness, and the level of inclusive didactical practices they implement in the classroom. For children, secondary outcomes will be their gender bias awareness and their socioemotional skills. Heterogeneity will be performed by students’ gender.

The evaluation will follow an RCT design, with randomization at the school-building level. All the teachers in the same building will be either in treatment or control, in order to minimize potential spillovers. To improve precision, randomization will be done in groups (usually pairs) of similar school-buildings, using a block design with covariates. Blocks are constructed in two ways: if multiple school buildings share the same principal and are part of the same administrative unt (Istituto Complessivo, IC), then they are part of the same block. If one participating administrative unit (Istituto Comprensivo) has only one school building, it will be matched with another school with similar characteristics. Similarity is defined in terms of performance in standardized national assessment tests (Invalsi) in previous cohorts, school size and school location.

Not available

randomization by computer (Campania) or in-person lottery (Piemonte) done in front of all the school principals who want to participate

Randomization is made at the school-building level (plesso). All the teachers in the same school-building participating in the trial are randomized to either the treatment or the control group.

Yes

We plan to recruit about 33 different school-buildings (plesso).

We plan to recruit about 100 teachers, teaching in approximately 70 classes (sometimes, two teachers teach in the same class), to approximately 1200 students.

We plan to balance the control and treatment groups at the level of the school building, which means around 35 teachers and 600 pupils each.

0.2 for children’s primary outcomes, 0.55 for teachers’ outcomes