Anti-fat bias from teachers
Obese people are often the target of stigmatisation and discrimination, they are sometimes stereotyped as lazy and unmotivated. There has been research into these kinds of behaviours towards adults, however the extent of weight stigmatisation amongst children in schools has received less attention. A recent report, carried out at the University of Newcastle in Australia, has shown that physical education (PE) teachers have strong anti-fat biases. The study tested 240 trainee PE teachers and non-PE trainees for explicit bias – negative views that they admitted – and implicit bias – using techniques such as word association to see what perceptions they associated with overweight.
Whilst many schools continue to encourage children to lead healthy lifestyles, the evidence shows that the raised awareness of obesity may actually be increasing the stigma associated with it. Interestingly, the study also showed that the trainees almost expect the children to underperform, even in things that don’t have anything to do with obesity, such as verbal reasoning skills. The study was unable to determine whether the teachers entered their programmes with pre-formed bias, or whether the bias developed over their time in training. School teachers directly influence their children’s behaviours and self-esteem, and this report highlights the fact that schools need to evaluate whether anti-fat bias exists within its staff. If the results are affirmatory, then appropriate staff development programmes need to be created that raise awareness not only for obesity, but for the stigmatisation that accompanies it.
