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BackgroundWhile research has documented negative social and academic consequences that occur when students experience peer exclusion, few studies have been conducted to investigate teachers’ evaluations of peer exclusion. AimsThis study investigated whether ethnic and gender biases enter teachers’ evaluations of classroom peer exclusion that met criteria for bullying. SampleTeachers (N = 740; 77% female) of early and middle adolescents participated in the study. Participants were recruited from 118 elementary and secondary schools across the Czech Republic. MethodsUsing a between‐subjects design, teachers evaluated a scenario of classroom peer exclusion initiated by majority ethnic (Czech) students. The scenarios varied contextual characteristics: target’s ethnicity (majority Czech vs. minority Arab), target’s gender, and excluders’ gender. ResultsAnalyses revealed several subtle contextual effects. Although teachers viewed exclusion as having a more negative impact for the fair treatment of Arab targets than for Czech targets, their reasoning about the wrongfulness of such exclusion was less focused on the moral concerns about fairness for Arab than for Czech targets. In contrast to girl targets, teachers were less concerned about the harmful impact on exclusion for boy targets when considering intervention. Excluders’ gender had significant interactions with the target’s gender on reasoning about wrongfulness of exclusion and the target’s ethnicity for viewing exclusion as impairing the target’s academic engagement. ConclusionsThe findings of subtle ethnic and gender biases underscore the need for research on teacher perspectives on peer exclusion and for training teachers how to address peer exclusion in the classroom across various contexts.
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This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2025
Teacher evaluations of interethnic bullying of an Arab student: The role of perceiving refugees as a threat or benefit
Abstract Interethnic bullying that targets ethnic minority students has serious consequences for the lives of victimized students. Teachers’ evaluations of the bullying are critical because teacher intervention can stop bullying and improve the adjustment of victimized students. Because the literature has documented partially overlapping biases against people of Arab ethnicity and people with refugee backgrounds, this study investigated whether teachers’ attitudes toward refugees play a role in their evaluations of the interethnic bullying of an Arab student. Teachers (n = 373; 77% female) who participated in the study filled the Threats–Benefits Inventory (TBI) that measured two types of attitudes toward refugees (perceiving refugees as a threat and perceiving refugees as a benefit) and evaluated a hypothetical vignette of interethnic bullying targeted at an Arab student. SEM analysis, controlling for gender, age, and contact with refugees, indicated that teachers’ attitudes toward refugees were not associated with their perceptions of the interethnic bullying as wrong or with their willingness to intervene. However, viewing refugees as a source of high threat or low benefit was consistently associated with lower recognition of the negative outcomes of the interethnic bullying. Moreover, a greater willingness to intervene positively associated with female gender and increasing age. The study suggests that teachers’ attitudes toward refugees may contribute to underestimating negative outcomes of interethnic bullying among students. To foster appropriate evaluations of interethnic bullying, teacher education should aim to promote understanding of different marginalized groups and to reduce biases against people with refugee backgrounds.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1728918
- PAR ID:
- 10636593
- Publisher / Repository:
- Sage Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Social Psychology of Education
- Volume:
- 27
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 1381-2890
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3329 to 3352
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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