A new Finnish study suggests that some high school teachers discriminate against immigrants in the assessment of matriculation exams.
Compared to native Finnish students, immigrant students receive 0.06 standard deviation units lower scores from teachers than from blind graders.
Students' own high school teachers initially assess final exams before they are passed on to the matriculation examination board, which issues the final grade. The board examiners do not see the names of the students, so discrimination does not affect the final grade.
The researchers found that the bias is most acute among high-performing immigrant students and in subjects where teachers have more discretion in grading.
The higher the scores, the wider the grading gap between teachers and examiners.
The study also found that immigrant students who attend schools with biased teachers are less likely to continue on to higher education.
This happens even though the lower scores given by teachers are not the final ones. That said, the study found that prejudices must manifest in one way or another in the classroom, for example, as a lack of encouragement for immigrants.
"Teachers and schools can shape students' goals, self-esteem, self-perception as well as what they plan to do after high school," said Mikko Silliman, an economist focused on education policy. "Finland is home to high-performing immigrant students who don't realise their full potential."
The researchers said the study's takeaway is not that all teachers in Finland are racist. While the study showed a bias against immigrant students, most high school teachers do grade fairly.
"When we shared our results with Norwegian professors, their first response was, 'good news' that prejudices are so minimal," Silliman explained.
That said, the study indicated that bias was present and that it not only harms immigrants themselves, but also society as a whole in terms of untapped potential.
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