This project examines how ethnic minority girls are affected by bias in education. While educational inequality is often explained by structural barriers such as poverty or segregation, this project focuses on psychological barriers, especially teachers’ prejudice. It studies a subtle form of bias called paternalism: attitudes that may seem caring or supportive, but are also patronizing and based on low expectations. For example, educators may try to protect minority girls from failure, but in doing so, they may give them fewer challenges, less critical feedback, or fewer opportunities to show their abilities.
The project investigates how paternalism shapes teachers’ decisions, students’ academic motivation, and students’ sense of empowerment. It also develops and tests psychological interventions for both educators and students. The overall aim is to reduce paternalistic bias, improve minority girls’ educational opportunities, and support them in developing confidence, autonomy, and academic success.
1 · Understanding paternalism in education
Szekeres, H., Bruneau, E., & Doosje, B. (2025). Dual pathway of prejudice in education: Teachers’ paternalistic and hostile prejudice affecting minority girls. Social Psychology of Education, 28, 103. See report →
Szekeres, H., de França, D. X., & Doosje, B. An Intersectional Account of Teacher Prejudice: Paternalism vs. Hostility Toward Ethnoracially Minoritized Girls and Boys. (Under review)
This project examines how teacher bias shapes minority students’ educational opportunities by looking at three things together: the student’s intersecting identities, the nature of prejudice, and the type of educational outcome. Across studies with teachers in the Netherlands, the United States, and Brazil, the research asks whether minority girls and boys face different forms of bias, and whether these biases affect them in different ways. The findings show that prejudice in education is not one single attitude. Hostile bias may be more closely linked to whether students are welcomed and included in the classroom, while paternalism — a seemingly caring but patronizing form of bias — may lower expectations about students’ competence and independence. By showing how ethnicity/race, gender, prejudice type, and outcome type intersect, the project highlights the need for educational interventions that address both exclusion and subtle low expectations.
2 · Paternalism-reduction intervention among teachers
Szekeres, H., Gati, E., Onyeador, I. N., Kende, A., & Doosje, B. (2026). Reducing paternalistic bias toward ethnic minority girls. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 123, 104855. See report →
This project develops and tests an intervention to reduce paternalistic bias toward ethnic minority girls in education. Paternalism refers to a seemingly supportive or caring attitude that can nevertheless communicate low expectations, overprotection, and doubts about students’ competence and autonomy. The project focuses on teachers, whose expectations and classroom decisions can shape students’ academic opportunities. The intervention is designed to reduce defensiveness, strengthen perceptions of minority girls’ competence and independence, raise awareness of the harms of paternalism, and encourage more empowering teaching practices. The study is being conducted in two countries: Hungary, focusing on Roma girls, and the United States, focusing on Black girls. Data collection is currently ongoing, with outcomes assessed immediately after the intervention and again one month later.
3 · Reducing meta-paternalism among youth and promoting civic engagement
(In progress)
