Race and gender biases in student evaluations of teachers

C-Tier
Journal: Economics Letters
Year: 2019
Volume: 179
Issue: C
Pages: 66-71

Score contribution per author:

0.335 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Student ratings of teaching (SETs) are vital for academic career trajectories of higher education lecturers. Although student bias against female lecturers is noted in previous studies, mostly in the developed world, the extent to which race affects such ratings has received limited attention. To better understand the role of race and gender bias in SETs, we conduct an experiment in South Africa, where racial bias is highly prevalent. Students are randomly assigned to follow video lectures with identical narrated slides and script but given by lecturers of different race and gender. We find that black lecturers receive lower ratings than white lecturers, particularly from black students.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:ecolet:v:179:y:2019:i:c:p:66-71
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25