Reducing unconscious bias will bring long-term benefits to your school
It may take a long time to implement the steps in this article and embed them into your recruitment process. However, the benefits are well worth it to help make sure your school is inclusive, diverse and welcoming. Reducing unconscious bias will:
- Help you create a more inclusive team
- Give pupils more diverse role models to look up to in your school
- Allow you to find the best candidate for each role
It might not be possible for you to adopt all the steps below, but pick the ones that are most suitable and feasible for your school's context – even adopting some of them will help you reduce unconscious bias.
Look at data from your previous recruitment rounds
Don't just look at a single round of recruitment. Instead, base any judgements you make by looking at multiple recruitment rounds and whether there are any recurring patterns that appear worrisome.
Find out how to start gathering HR data to improve inclusivity in your school.
You can then focus on the most important areas of the process.
For example, if a wide demographic variety of candidates get shortlisted but only a narrow demographic group tend to be hired, start by looking at the interview stage.
Find out how to tackle unconscious bias at each stage of recruitment below.
Advertising roles
Post job adverts in a diverse range of places
Make your school website welcoming
Highlight your commitment to diversity
Shortlisting candidates
You may find that a wide variety of people apply for your positions, but only a narrow demographic group make it past the CV stage.
If this is the case, consider adopting the approaches in this section. These may take a long time to develop and require extra resources, but they're recommended practice in other industries.
Anonymise CVs
Use a scoring grid to ensure objectivity
Carrying out online checks of shortlisted candidates
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) recommends that schools "should consider" carrying out an online search of shortlisted candidates as part of your due diligence (see paragraph 226).
This can increase the chance of unconscious bias interfering with the hiring process, because you may learn additional personal information that's not relevant to the job or hiring process.
To reduce this risk, you should have someone who is not part of the interview panel conduct the search. They should only pass on any relevant information to decision-makers – for example, information that suggests the candidate:
- Is unqualified for the role
- Poses a potential safeguarding risk
- Risks damaging the reputation of your school/trust
Read more about carrying out an online search of shortlisted candidates for more support on how to fairly do this.