What is ‘teacher awareness’ and can teachers use it to overcome their expectation bias? a thematic analysis of research

In many teacher expectation studies, it is suggested that teachers can overcome expectation bias through enhanced awareness. In this exploratory paper, I extrapolate and map the conceptual demarcations of ‘teacher awareness’ based on a thematic analysis of twenty-six teacher expectation studies identified in a systematic literature search (2018–2023). I identify three analytical themes in the literature, and my analysis suggests that there is often a fundamental assumption of cognitive control attached to teacher awareness. In many teacher expectations studies, the formation of teacher expectations is characterised as an active process in which teachers integrate, assimilate and interpret student information using critical reasoning and analytical thinking. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that the conceptualisations of teacher awareness and the teacher expectation construct are interdependent. With reference to recent research which shows that teachers unconsciously process student information and have implicit bias when they form academic expectations, I argue that different conceptualisations of teacher awareness of expectation bias do not have equally practical applicability for teachers. By drawing on Dual Process Theory and educational sociological research, I argue that greater theoretical explication of the teacher expectation construct is necessary in future research to develop a concept of teacher awareness that is applicable to overcome expectation bias in teacher practice.