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Top-Performing Girls Are More Impactful Peer Role Models than Boys, Teachers Say

Author

Listed:
  • Goulas, Sofoklis

    (Brookings Institution)

  • Megalokonomou, Rigissa

    (Monash University)

  • Sotirakopoulos, Panagiotis

    (affiliation not available)

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 boys (?= 0.289; p

Suggested Citation

  • Goulas, Sofoklis & Megalokonomou, Rigissa & Sotirakopoulos, Panagiotis, 2025. "Top-Performing Girls Are More Impactful Peer Role Models than Boys, Teachers Say," IZA Discussion Papers 17733, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17733
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    teacher gender stereotypes; peer role models; randomized controlled trial; STEM;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General

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