Supporting the inclusion of excluded pupils

1
Supporting the inclusion of excluded pupils

• Resource material for Multiverse
• Louise Gazeley

2
School exclusion processes

• Most pupils who are excluded from school are
  excluded for a short period, temporarily and on
  only one or two occasions in any school year
• Some pupils are excluded more frequently, placing
  them at increased risk of permanent exclusion
• These pupils often require additional support and
  attention to their learning needs.
• Alternative curriculum arrangements may be seen
  as an important preventative strategy

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Alternatives to exclusion

• Alternative arrangements such as work/college
  placements are often used with pupils at Key
  Stage 4 who are considered to be at risk of
  exclusion from school
• These are designed to reduce the possibility of
  future exclusions and to ensure that pupils
  continue to access education
• It may be difficult for pupils who attend school
  on a part time basis to keep up with school work,
  particularly if they have additional learning
  needs but receive no additional support
• It may be difficult to make connections and build
  links between the different types of educational
  provision that a pupil is engaging with

4
Attendance

• The attendance of pupils involved in school
  exclusion processes may be less regular than that
  of other pupils
• The effects of this are cumulative - there may be
  gaps in pupils learning that have developed over
  a period of years
• Pupils may feel alienated from school and have
  developed routines and lifestyles that do not
  include regular attendance at school
• Supportive relationships with pupils and teachers
  may not have developed
• It may be difficult to access school work,
  particularly if this is compounded by learning
  difficulties such as poor literacy skills
• There may be some reluctance to address absence
  or truancy if this avoids further conflict

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Girls

• She is a natural conflict
• person. Her only strategy
• is to duck it completely
• Her knowledge has been
• limited by her absences
• and she is slipping further
• behind every year.
• (Form Tutor, mainstream school)

• Girls are more likely than boys to have
  difficulties that are concealed or unidentified
• Truancy may be a strategy adopted by girls to
  avoid conflict
• Professionals may respond less sympathetically to
  girls who exhibit behavioural difficulties

6
Planning

• Pupils who are absent for long or frequent
  periods may need additional and proactive
  interventions to enable them to access the
  classroom situation
• Drawing on prior knowledge presents particular
  difficulties which can more easily be overlooked
  in a whole class situation
• Pupils in internal seclusion or excluded from
  school must be provided with work. Careful
  planning is needed if this work is to be
  accessible and engaging in the absence of the
  teacher

7
Information

• Know enough about pupils to be able to understand
  the problems they have but avoid allowing this
  information to influence your expectations of
  pupils
• Access information about the learning needs of
  pupils, including their Literacy level/ Reading
  Age as this is often a barrier to learning
• Know which pupils have an IEP/PSP/PEP and know
  what it says
• Ask other professionals for information about
  pupils if you have concerns and share your
  concerns with others if appropriate

8
Empathy

• Some pupils live in circumstances that make it
  more difficult to function at school. These
  factors can sometimes be overlooked. They
  include
• - Neglect
• Abuse
• Domestic violence
• Substance misuse
• Mental illness
• Unstable housing
• Poverty
• Living without a parent

• And I think the question is, how much are staff
  aware of these issues in the mainstream because
  its very difficult when there are more than a
  thousand students, and the impact that must have
  on them, their lives
• I think thats the other issue, with being a
  large school, that the individual can be lost.
• (Inclusion Co-ordinator, mainstream school)

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Pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN)

• Pupils with an identified SEN are at greater risk
  of exclusion than pupils without
• Excluded pupils often have unidentified or unmet
  learning needs
• Types of SEN do not always fall into distinct
  categories
• It is important to ensure that the focus on
  pupils behavioural needs does not encourage
  learning needs to be overlooked
• Tasks need to be accessible and also provide
  opportunities for development

10
Teaching Assistants (TAs)

• Often have good relationships with pupils and a
  detailed understanding of their learning needs
  and of strategies that work with individual
  pupils
• Are able to be more effective if they are
  involved in planning and feedback
• Are empowered by teachers who are approachable
  and encourage a dialogue to develop
• Can be used to provide support at key points -
  for instance at the start of a task if this is
  likely to be a trigger for refusal to work

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Teaching styles

• Pupils can be very successful with an individual
  teacher, even when unsuccessful in all other
  places
• Pupils can be very alienating in their
  behaviours. Try to depersonalise situations
• Be willing to clarify tasks as often as necessary
• Be aware of your own preconceptions and avoid
  being judgemental

• Some teachers ignore what the pupil is trying
  to tell them, whether theyre too busy or theyre
  doing something else, well theyre only human
  after all He saw it as no one listens to me,and
  no one cares, and that sort of thing.
• (Parent of an excluded pupil)

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Some steps towards creating a safe classroom
environment

• Provide consistent boundaries and clear
  expectations
• Actively develop pupils confidence and self
  esteem
• Behave in ways that are predictable and
  unthreatening
• Value communication with pupils
• Try to treat pupils fairly
• Try to minimise opportunities for conflict.
  Anticipate pupils likely responses and try to
  plan your next step in advance
• Think about what you say and how you say it

13
Peer and group work

• Developing strategies to integrate a pupil with
  others in the class may be useful
• Pupils enjoy active learning experiences
• Some pupils work supportively with each other
• Teachers may be less inclined to use more active
  approaches when teaching pupils whose behaviour
  is difficult to manage

14
Working with parents

• Parents can find interaction with professionals
  difficult
• Professionals may think that parents do not value
  education or that they are unsupportive
• However, parents own experiences of education
  may make it difficult for them to contribute to
  education in the home
• Parents are sensitive to professional assumptions
  

• Where it is behaviour it can feel as if the
  parent is being called in to be told off. A lot
  of skill is required to make parents feel
  welcome. For instance not being offered a cup of
  tea when others are others all know each other
  being given a small chair to sit on the sort of
  language used. All a bit humiliating but not
  intentional.
• (Professional working with the parents of
  excluded pupils)

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Responsibility for excluded pupils

• Other Classroom Providers? Teachers?

Outside agencies?
Excluded pupils
Teaching Assistants?
Parents/ Carers?
Specialist Staff?
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Professional values

• Theres got to be commitment from every member
  of staff, youve got to have the right ethos,
  total ethos of inclusion. So having some kind of
  mission statement where you say, We believe in
  inclusion, but half the staff think Ah, get
  rid of that, get rid of that one. Youve got to
  have everybody on board.
• (Professional working with excluded pupils in an
  alternative educational provider)