Personal & social development // Empathy & Social Awareness
Questioning Your Own Biases
Reflect on their own assumptions and biases — recognising that everyone carries unconscious assumptions about others, and that actively questioning these assumptions is an ongoing practice that leads to greater fairness and empathy
Quick check
Can the learner catch themselves making an assumption about someone — like assuming a quiet child is unfriendly — and then question whether that assumption is fair?
Ask this to see whether the topic is secure.
Topic // Mastery
What mastery looks like
- Describe a time they made an assumption about someone that turned out to be wrong
- Explain what unconscious bias means in simple terms
- Describe a strategy for checking their own assumptions, such as asking questions before judging
Topic // Map
Where this fits
- RequiredMust come first
- HelpfulHelps, but not essential
Before this
3 topicsEmpathy & Social Awareness // Ages 9 to 11
Examining own biases builds on understanding stereotypes
Self-Awareness // Ages 9 to 10
Reflecting on unconscious assumptions and biases towards others builds on the foundational habit of questioning your first reading of social situations
- Prejudice and DiscriminationHelpful
Empathy & Social Awareness // Ages 9 to 11
Examining biases benefits from understanding prejudice impact
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Questioning Your Own Biases
Ages 9 to 11 // Thinking skill
Leads to
2 topics- Sympathy Versus EmpathyRequired
Empathy & Social Awareness // Ages 12 to 13
Advanced social awareness depends on earlier empathy skills
- Ethics in Real-World IssuesHelpful
Responsible Decision-Making // Ages 9 to 11
Evaluating ethical issues benefits from examining own biases
Personal & social development // Empathy & Social Awareness
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