The vicious cycle of educational inequality may be maintained and perpetuated by teachers' lack of desire to work in socioeconomically deprived communities. Across two studies (Ntotal = 606), we experimentally investigated whether teachers' aversions to such settings could be mitigated by contact experiences with (a) people experiencing financial hardship and (b) children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Trainee teachers rated their levels of desire to work in schools that varied in terms of the socioeconomic backgrounds and diversity of their student populations. They also reported their contact experiences. Although, overall, teachers showed an aversion to working in a school that served a diverse and low‐income community compared to one with average student demographics, this effect was attenuated when teachers had more prior contact with both close others in financial hardship and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. These findings were replicated across both studies. Further analyses also revealed that the relation between contact and school desirability may, at least in part, be mediated by changes in teaching self‐efficacy. These findings demonstrate the potential value of teachers' contact with other groups as a method of reducing bias in education.

中文翻译：

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你认识的人会影响你去哪里：群体间接触减少了见习教师学校偏好的偏见

由于教师缺乏在社会经济贫困社区工作的意愿，教育不平等的恶性循环可能会持续下去。两项研究（氮全部的= 606），我们通过实验调查了教师对此类环境的厌恶是否可以通过与（a）经济困难的人和（b）来自弱势背景的儿童的接触经历来减轻。实习教师根据社会经济背景和学生群体的多样性对他们在学校工作的愿望进行了评估。他们还报告了自己的接触经历。尽管总体而言，与普通学生人口的学校相比，教师表现出厌恶在为多元化和低收入社区服务的学校工作，但当教师事先与经济困难的亲密其他人以及来自贫困家庭的孩子进行更多接触时，这种影响就会减弱。弱势背景。这些发现在两项研究中得到了重复。进一步的分析还表明，接触与学校愿望之间的关系可能至少部分是由教学自我效能感的变化所调节的。这些发现证明了教师与其他群体接触作为减少教育偏见的一种方法的潜在价值。