Bias—The Enemy of Diversity and Objectivity for Educational Leaders
Abstract
All people have biases and prejudices in some form. As educational leaders, school administrators must guard against their potential biases and prejudices in order that they are able to treat employees objectively and fairly, and create an environment for diversity to flourish. Explicit bias refers to the attitudes of school administrators that are knowingly and intentionally based on prejudices and societal stereotyping of individuals because of variables such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, or sexual preference. Implicit or unconscious bias means that school administrators unknowingly possess attitudes about staff members based on prejudices and stereotypes prompted by variables such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, or sexual preference. In the broadest sense, diversity means putting aside biases and having individuals work objectively together with others they may view as “different” for whatever reasons. Objectivity means that school administrators are judging employees, and prospective employees, on factual information and merit.