Unconscious bias and hidden influences

I was at a school for an OfSTED inspection for a DHMAT school on Tuesday morning. I knew that my interviews would not be until later in the day, so I was keen to set myself up in a corner and work on my laptop, access e-mails etc. I also knew that there had been some recent reconfiguring of the network and I could no longer get online. Thankfully the school had made arrangement for a technician to be onsite first thing, in case inspectors had any difficulty with online access.

I spotted the young lad, complete with lanyard, at the start of the day and asked if he’d mind taking a look at my laptop and helping me get online. He said that he would and showed me which wifi network to go for. I had already tried that, but I patiently waited until he worked out that something else was needed.  I ‘helpfully’ suggested that the laptop may not be recognised by the server. He agreed that that might be the difficulty.
 
“Can you sort it out?” I asked.
 
“No, probably not.” He replied.
 
“You can’t fix the issue or get my laptop online at all?”
 
“No…. Not really... No… Sorry.”
 
As he walked out of the staffroom, I resolved to talk to the headteacher about how ineffective the ICT support was and how completely unhelpful the technician had been.
 
It was only when I spoke to the colleague that had joined in with the end of the conversation, that I realised my mistake.
 
The young gentleman with the lanyard was not, as it happened, a technician from the ICT support company. He was a graduate on work experience in the school. He was gaining experience before starting a BEd and joining the teaching profession. He has, no doubt, a very bright future within the education profession.
 
I knew he wasn’t a regular member of staff and I had made an assumption.  Usually, in my experience, ICT technicians are quite young, male and wear lanyards. I realise now, to my shame that I formed a stereotype in my limited brain and had judged him unfairly. In fact, he had tried to help me, even though he had no need or obligation to. I’m sure my body language would have conveyed how unimpressed and ungrateful I was.
 
I saw him later and apologised for my incorrect assumption and I really hope no serious damage was done. It does really highlight though, how readily we can fall into the trap of judging people superficially. Sometimes we make these judgments without even realising it. We can be unconsciously biased against an individual or social group and this can affect the choices we make, how we treat them and what we think about them.
 
Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan, in part, to smash the stereotyping attitudes of his listeners.
 
Having grown up in the rural shire that is our diocese, I am acutely aware that we often need help with understanding and experiencing diversity in all its forms. This is why we have arranged some bespoke training, working with other dioceses. So far, the uptake of this offer has been low. Why? Is it because we are all fine with diversity and unconscious bias and feel we have it covered? Possibly. Is it because it doesn’t really seem relevant to our working lives in a small Herefordshire or Shropshire school? We are all so busy. There are so many other pressures and things to worry about?
 
I would encourage school governors and leaders to consider this unusual training offer, as I think it is one of those domains where we perhaps don’t realise just how much we don’t know. The unknown, unknowns. To book your place click here.
 
So many of our institutions have a track record of discrimination, including the Church of England. Sometimes this has been deliberate and sometimes accidental. We have to make a focussed effort to do much better. That has been the case for a long time and I think everyone feels that meaningful change is needed now, not in another 5 years time.
 
I do wonder how people from Samaria were treated generally by the society Jesus spoke with.
 
Collect – for the days after Pentecost
O Lord, from whom all good things come:
grant to us your humble servants,
that by your holy inspiration
we may think those things that are good,
and by your merciful guiding may perform the same;
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
 
Thank you all for the work you have done for the children and families of this diocese, in every one of our schools, nurseries and colleges this half term.
 
Have a restful half term holiday. Hopefully the sunshine will stay with us into next week! 
Every blessing, 
Andrew
 
Canon Andrew Teale
Diocesan Director of Education

Let's Go Zero's 7 areas of concern: 

If so the Rural Teaching Partnership project is still currently taking applications. The project is a partnership between the Church of England Education Office, ten dioceses, including Hereford, Teach First and the Chartered College of Teaching to bring teachers new to the profession to work in rural and church schools.
 
For an informal discussion to find out if your school may qualify, contact the project leader,  Nicola Coupe.  Nicola.Coupe@salisbury.anglican.org