Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/314630 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17733
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We examine teachers' perceptions toward top performing students and their role model influence on others in an online survey-based experiment. We randomly expose teachers to profiles of top performing students and inquire whether they consider the profiled top performers to be influential role models. These profiles varied by gender and field of study (STEM or Non-STEM). Our findings show that teachers perceive top-performing girls as more influential peer role models compared to top-performing boys. We also investigate the qualities teachers perceive top performers who are successful role models to have. We show that teachers associate a greater sense of learning autonomy and sense of being an example with top-performing girls compared to top-performing boys. Estimated effects are more pronounced among teachers with children and teachers in urban areas. Administrative data from a representative sample show limited observed differences between top-performing boys' and girls' educational outcomes that could justify the differences in teachers' gender perceptions. These findings carry significant implications for education, as teachers play a crucial role in the cultivation of positive externalities between students.
Subjects: 
teacher gender stereotypes
peer role models
randomized controlled trial
STEM
JEL: 
I21
I24
J16
D83
C90
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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