Gender stereotypes and children’s performance in primary schools

Published: 3/12/2026

Piera Bello (University of Bergamo ),Annalisa Cristini (University of Bergamo),Costanza Marconi (University of Bergamo ),Federica Origo (University of Bergamo)

GRINS THEMATIC AREAS

Household Sustainability

RESOURCES

Main attachment

This paper investigates the impact of exposure to teacher stereotypes on student achievement in primary schools. We measure both implicit and explicit stereotypes using item-based questions available in the European Value Survey and the Gender-Science Implicit Association Test. By exploiting the random assignment of students to teachers with different levels of stereotypes, we show that the gender gap in math performance, defined as the difference between boys' and girls' scores on standardized tests, significantly increases in classes with math teachers with stronger gender stereotypes. Additional evidence suggests that this result is driven by girls who benefit from having teachers with a girls-math attitude.

In line with previous research, we do not find any effect of teacher stereotypes on student outcomes in reading.

KEYWORDS

educationinequalitygender gapStereotypes

JEL CODE

I24,I26,J16

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study was funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU, in the framework of the GRINS - Growing Resilient, INclusive and Sustainable project (GRINS PE00000018). The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, nor can the European Union be held responsible for them.

We are grateful to INVALSI, especially Patrizia Falzetti and Patrizia Giannantoni, and the provincial working group for economic recovery and women's empowerment for their support to data collection. We also thank the participants at the SABE-IAREP conference in 2023, the 2023 and 2025 INVALSI conferences, the EC-JRC seminar (February 2024), and the 2024 AIEL conference for their helpful comments.

CITE THIS WORK

Bello, Piera, et al. "Gender stereotypes and children’s performance in primary schools." Grins Discussion Paper N° 95/2026 (2026).

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