Promoting inclusive school cultures and, more specifically, addressing inequality of opportunity is high on the European education agenda. This is reflected in the policies and ambitions of many teacher training institutes. As inequality is part of a ‘wicked problem’, simply adding the theme to the curriculum is hardly a solution. Equipping teachers to be able to identify and address inequality of opportunity requires them to develop sensitivity, multi-perspectivity and agency, for instance, and these are complex attributes that require personal experiences and deep reflection.

Recognizing this complexity, five master’s students chose this challenge for their collective graduate research project. Following the principles of design research, they developed a game that helps both beginning and experienced teachers reflect on the hidden mechanisms of inequality, particularly on the effects of socio-economic status (SES), and it stimulates them to address these mechanisms. In the card game, that is played by 3-5 teachers, each teacher first draws a persona card; each player ‘becomes’ a pupil with a given SES-background, and then gathers positive and negative experiences.

This article reports on the impact of the game – both in terms of outcomes and in its driving mechanisms. To this end, the canvasses on which the individual participants recorded their learning outcomes were analyzed, as well as a retrospective questionnaire that was administered. The respondents (n = 90) were students in either initial teacher training programmes or post initial (master’s) programmes.

The results are promising, especially on (a) identifying with low SES pupils and (b) feeling the accumulation of negative experiences which raises teachers’ awareness. The participants report that through the individual and collective reflections afterwards, they are better equipped to understand and address the issue.