Boys in Switzerland are given worse grades at school than girls for the same quality of work, a new study has shown. A combination of unconscious bias and pressure on teachers leads to the disparity, with non-Swiss boys the worst affected.
According to the study, the Swiss school system is biased against boys, especially those born outside the country. In the report, completed by educational researchers Chantal Oggenfuss and Stefan Wolter, this preferential treatment and bias mean some students miss out on academic opportunities.
Their analysis covered all secondary school classes in Basel between 2016 and 2019 - bear in mind that Swiss schools grade students on a scale of one to six. Overall, while girls generally performed better than boys on tests, they received 0,143 points more than male students for the same work. The difference between Swiss citizens and residence permit holders was found to be 0,104 grade points.
The worst affected by the bias were non-Swiss boys. On average, foreign male students receive 0,25 grade points less than Swiss girls for the same quality of work, and up to 0,6 points less in many cases. The study noted that as grades are rounded up and down, this bias has the potential to determine whether a student can attend high school or university, or do an apprenticeship.
"We've seen that students have been receiving unfair grades for years, whether too good or too bad," noted Professor of Educational Economics Stefan Wolter. "This is largely an unconscious bias, but it can still have a significant impact on young people's careers," he told the Tages-Anzeiger.
Alongside unconscious bias, Wolter argued that many teachers are pressured to award higher or lower grades, to avoid a class appearing too good or too bad. "If the grades are very low or high, questions may arise from the faculty, the school administration, or parents: Why is this class so much better or worse than others?"
In response, the President of the Swiss Teachers’ Association, Dagmar Rösler, told the Tages-Anzeiger that "we know that allocations to performance-based programs or to Gymnasium aren't always accurate. Boys with low socioeconomic status, in particular, often end up at the lowest level and thus become demotivated."
He called on teachers to be given regular feedback on whether their grading is biased against boys and non-Swiss students. Wolter concluded that such techniques, tested in the United States, are proven to reduce bias in teachers.
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