Are teachers biased against overweight students?
Research shows that teachers and school health care workers express negative attitudes about obese people and bias against overweight students. As one example, some research has found that physical education teachers perceived overweight children to have poorer social, reasoning, physical, and cooperation skills than normal weight children. In addition, physical educators reported higher expectations for ‘normal weight’ than overweight students, across a range of performance and ability areas. Thus, efforts to combat weight bias and improve the school climate must include interventions for both students and teachers. For educational tools and strategies that teachers can use to improve the school climate and address weight bias, please see our Tools for Schools and Educators.
