LOS ANGELES: Preschool teachers who are highly stressed because of classroom conditions, depression or other factors are far more likely than their colleagues to recommend expulsion for children with behavioural problems, according to a study.

Conducted by Yale University’s Edward Zigler Centre in Child Development and Social Policy, the study found that of teachers who reported high job stress, 14.3 per cent also reported one or more expulsions in the past year, while 4.9 per cent of teachers with low job stress reported expulsions.

The expulsions also were linked to high student-teacher ratios – 12.7 per cent of teachers reported an expulsion in classrooms with 12 or more children per adult, compared with 7.7 per cent of teachers who reported an expulsion when there were fewer than eight children per adult. Teachers who had students in extended-day classes (eight or more hours) also were more likely to recommend expulsion for students.

The study concluded that long days and overburdened workloads likely affect a teacher’s ability to manage classrooms and effectively deal with children who act out. As a result, children who would most benefit from preschool are also those most in jeopardy of being expelled.

“If there was a child who needed more help becoming ready for school, it is the child whose behavioural problems are so great as to cause his or her preschool teacher to no longer want that child in class,” said study author Walter S. Gilliam, who is the director of the Zigler Center.

The study is a follow-up to a 2005 Yale report, also by Gilliam, that examined state-funded public preschool programs in 40 states serving more than 800,000 children. It found that children in preschool are three times more likely to be expelled than K-12 students. The rates are highest for older students, blacks and boys.

Experts said that there was no doubt that children are exhibiting more behavioural problems and at younger ages.

“There are lots of contributors such as media, excessive television viewing, violent video games, stressed parents who are working too and not supervising their children,” said Frances Page Glascoe, a professor of paediatrics at Vanderbilt University who joined Gilliam during a telephone news conference. “Behavior issues are increasing, but the availability of mental health services has not kept pace.”

One of the major problems, Gilliam said, is that few states collect data on preschool expulsions as they do expulsions of older students.

California does not have the money to track preschool expulsions, said Gwen Stephens, interim director of child development for the state Department of Education. She said there have only been two cases in recent years in which parents have complained about actions taken against their children related to behaviour issues.—Dawn/ The LAT-WP News Service (c) Los Angeles Times