Race and gender biases in student evaluations of teachers

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.