Implicit Race Bias Work in Education Is a Nonstarter Without Addressing Systemic Racism

• In Event: Pedagogy, Assessment, Strikes, and Leadership in Education

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a 10-month qualitative study of 12 White and White-presenting Ontario teachers. Participants engaged in critical reading on systemic and structural racism, completed implicit bias awareness training, used a variety of unconscious bias mitigation techniques in and out of the classroom, and provided ongoing reflections on these activities. Working with critical race theory, second wave White teacher identity studies and social psychology literature, this paper explores teachers’ professional and personal perceptions of implicit race bias mitigation. Analyses of these data highlight the limitations of implicit bias work in the absence of critical learning around the broader historical, institutional and systemic elements of racism.

Author

• Arlo Kempf, University of Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education