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Teachers working in preschools have a racial bias which makes them more likely to discipline black children, a study from Yale University has found.

Researchers used eye-tracking technology which showed the teachers were more closely observed black students, particularly boys, when trying to anticipate trouble.

They also found that black teachers held black students to higher standards of behaviour than white teachers.

The researchers from the Yale Child Study Center speculated that black teachers may be demonstrating “a belief that black children require harsh assessment and discipline to prepare them for a harsh world.”

White teachers, by contrast, may be acting on a stereotype that black preschoolers are more likely to misbehave in the first place, researchers said.

Teachers were shown video clips of children in classrooms and were told to identify signs of misbehavior.

“The tendency to base classroom observation on the gender and race of the child may explain in part why those children are more frequently identified as misbehaving and hence why there is a racial disparity in discipline,” said Walter S. Gilliam, one of five researchers who conducted the study.

Black preschoolers are 3.6 times as likely to receive one or more suspensions

relative to white pre-schoolers, the researchers said. “This is particularly concerning as Black children make up only 19% of preschool enrollment, but comprise 47% of preschoolers suspended one or more times. Similarly, boys are three times as likely as girls to be suspended.”

To read the full report, click here.