"Can head shape determine chances of business success? gu.com/p/33499/tw"@PPTAWeb tweeted.

Nothing much to do with education - but everything to do with stereotypes and, of course, what is published under the heading 'research'.

The trigger was the ongoing conversation in this office about stereotypes: gender, age, ability, ethnicity, technological prowess, looks i.e. physical characteristics (eye of the beholder of course) ... good schools, bad schools, good teachers, bad teachers, unions .... got the picture?

Discussion can become heated with words like discrimination and prejudice entering the 'debate' and authoritative references used in an attempt to close (dare I write win?) any difference of opinion. Steven Pinker is sometimes mentioned:

"With some important exceptions, stereotypes are in fact not inaccurate when assessed against objective benchmarks such as census figures or the reports of the stereotyped people themselves. ... Now for the important exceptions. Stereotypes can be downright inaccurate when a person has few or no firsthand encounters with the stereotyped group, or belongs to a group that is overtly hostile to the one being judged.... And some stereotypes are accurate only because of self-fulfilling prophecies." Pinker also writes
"And people have no trouble overriding a stereotype when they have good information about an individual. Contrary to a common accusation, teachers’ impressions of their individual pupils are not contaminated by their stereotypes of race, gender, or socioeconomic status. The teachers’ impressions accurately reflect the pupil's performance as measured by objective tests (Jussim &Eccles, 1995)."

All of this challenges us to be a little more open minded. I find the 'good' 'bad' labeling that unions, schools and teachers are exposed to on a daily basis, in forums that include print and social media, wearying. The opining in these forums is generally devoid of context and of 'good information' let alone evidence.

It's no secret that PPTA wants politicians to sit down with all the stakeholders in education and find a way forward for our students, but it seems stereotypes may be getting in the way. Those who are doing the stereotyping are not prepared to encounter or engage with the group(s) they are judging.

Perhaps an easier strategy - and one that could be popular (reality TV beckons) -  would be to suggest selecting all politicians, students and teachers based on their head shape?

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