Teacher stereotypes and teacher expectations at the intersection of student gender and socioeconomic status

Abstract

Gender and family socioeconomic status (SES) are central dimensions of educational inequality and may interact in shaping inequality. This study addresses teacher expectations and stereotypes that possibly contribute to intersectional inequality. The study relies on two samples of teachers and students in German primary schools (sample 1: NTeachers=69, 94 % female, NStudents= 1,049 (German language)/1,027 (mathematics), 48 % female; sample 2: NTeachers= 698 (German language)/614 (mathematics), 94 % female; NStudents= 4,732 (German language)/4,117 (mathematics), 51 % female). Two-level regression analyses revealed additive gender and socioeconomic bias in teacher expectations in German language and mathematics but no intersectional bias (i. e., constant gender bias along family SES and similar socioeconomic bias for girls and boys). Further, teachers with more traditional gender stereotypes showed stronger gender bias, while SES-related stereotypes were unrelated to teacher expectations. We discuss how additive teacher expectation biases relate to the broader concept of intersectionality, potentially shaping unique educational experiences at the intersection of gender and SES.