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Teachers can judge the behaviour of black students more harshly than while pupils, new research has suggested.

A study by researchers at Stanford University examined the reaction of secondary and primary school teachers in the United States to student race.

They found that the teachers were more likely to view youngsters who they thought were black as troublemakers than those they thought were white.

Teachers tend to see black pupils as more likely to cause trouble in the future if they have misbehaved in the past, according to new research that attempted to examine the impact of racial stereotypes in US schools

The researchers say this may go someway towards explaining why black children are often disciplined more at schools compared to other pupils.

Professor Jennifer Eberhardt, a psychologist at Stanford University, said: 'The fact that black children are disproportionately disciplined in school is behind dispute.

'What is less clear is why. We see that stereotypes not only can be used to allow people to interpret a specific behavior in isolation, but also stereotypes can heighten our sensitivity to behavioral patterns across time.

'This pattern sensitivity is especially relevant in the schooling context.'

In their study, which is published in the journal Psychological Science, Professor Eberhardt and her colleagues presented teachers with fictional school records.

These records described two instances of misbehaviour by a student. The teachers were asked about their perception of the severity, how irritated that misbehaviour would make them and how the student should be punished.

They were also asked whether they saw the student as a troublemaker and if they could imagine themselves suspending that pupil in the future.

The researchers randomly assigned names to the student records, in some cases suggesting the student was black with names like Deshawn or Darnell and in others suggesting they were white with names like Greg or Jake.

The researchers found that racial stereotypes had little impact on the teachers' views of the pupils after one infraction.

However, the second piece of misbehaviour was seen as 'more troubling' when committed by a black student rather than a white one.

The researchers examined the views of both primary and secondary school teachers to see if their opinions of fictional pupils were altered by racial stereotypes and found they tended to judge black students more harshly

In the US black students are disproportionately punished for misbehaviour compared to white students

The teachers also tended to want to discipline black students more harshly as they were more likely to see the misbehaviour as part of a pattern.

The race of the teachers who took part in the study was not immediately clear, but Mail Online has contacted the researchers for more information. 

Jason Okonofua, who also took part in the study, said the findings had implications beyond the school system.

He said: 'Most social relationships entail repeated encounters.

'Interactions between police officers and civilians, between employers and employees, between prison guards and prisoners all may be subject to the sort of stereotype escalation effect we have identified in our research.'

The researchers suggest that psychological interventions could be used to help change the stereotypes of black students influencing the way teachers treat pupils.

In 2005 Trevor Phillips, then the chairman of the Commission For Racial Equality in the UK, suggested that black boys should be taught in separate classes in order to improve their educational achievements as a group. 

His controversial idea was met with opposition from some who said ghetto culture was to blame for the poor classroom performance of black boys, not just racism.