Disciplinary exclusion: issues for practice

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Disciplinary exclusion issues for practice

• Resource material for Multiverse
• Louise Gazeley

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Illustration One
Inclusion

Exclusion
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Illustration Two

Inclusion
Exclusion
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Illustration Three
Social
Policy level
School level
Teacher level
Socio-economic and cultural factors
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Disciplinary exclusion as a process

• Recorded exclusion - either fixed term or
  permanent. This is a formal process that is
  monitored and regulated
• Internal exclusion/ isolation/ seclusion.
• Alternatives to exclusion - college placements,
  work experience, managed moves
• Other disciplinary sanctions and behaviour
  management strategies

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Inclusion or exclusion?

1. Being withdrawn from a specific curriculum area?
2. Being required to work outside the head teachers
   office for a day?
3. Attending a work experience placement for one day
   a week as part of an Increased Flexibility
   Programme?

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National Statistics

• Government collects and publishes data on the
  recorded exclusion of pupils
• Rates of recorded exclusion are lowest in
  Primary schools
• Rates of recorded exclusion are highest for
  pupils in Years 9 and 10
• Schools are required to collect data on the
  exclusion of particular groups of pupils and to
  use it to inform their own policies and practices
  
• There is a tendency in schools to think of pupils
  as individual problems rather than as members of
  specific social or ethnic groups

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Issue 1 The exclusion gap

• Pupils from Black backgrounds are at least two
  and a half times more likely to be excluded from
  school than White pupils.
• Measures to address this over-representation have
  been identified at policy level as ineffective
• Exclusion from school represents the most
  stark and absolute denial of education. Even with
  the best efforts to improve provision for
  excluded pupils, the continued existence of the
  exclusion gap means that Black pupils are
  disproportionately denied mainstream education
  and the improved life chances that go with it.
• (DfES, 2006, p.15)

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Issue 2 Gender inequalities

• Boys are more likely than girls to be identified
  as having behavioural needs.They are also four
  times more likely to be excluded from school
  than girls
• Professional attitudes towards girls and boys
  with behavioural needs differ and this encourages
  different responses
• There is a shortage of specialist provision for
  girls identified as having behavioural needs

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Issue 3 Hard-to-place pupils

• Hard-to-place pupils are those that schools are
  reluctant to accept on roll. The need for local
  protocols to share these pupils between schools
  suggests the status of these pupils
• Schools are under pressure to raise attainment.
  Measuring a schools success by the proportion of
  pupils achieving 5 GCSE A-C grades diverts
  attention from those pupils furthest from this
  threshold
• Schools may feel the need to compete for those
  pupils - and their parents - who will bring them
  academic success
• There may be disagreement about the most
  appropriate placement for a pupil and appropriate
  provision may be hard, or impossible, to find.

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Issue 4 Intergenerational disadvantage

• There is no consensus about how social class can
  be measured in schools and professionals may
  resist talking explicitly about pupils in terms
  of their social class
• There is a strong correlation between maternal
  levels of educational attainment and those of
  pupils
• Very few excluded pupils come from middle class
  backgrounds
• Growing up in poverty makes it more likely that
  you will live in poverty as an adult

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Issue 5 Support for parents

• Parents who are able to be support their childs
  education proactively are much better positioned
  to intervene before a crisis occurs
• Although parents have rights in relation to
  disciplinary exclusion, they may not always know
  what these rights are
• Parents do not always know what advice or support
  is available, and they do not always take
  advantage of it
• The parents of excluded pupils may feel
  powerless, guilty or blamed
• Pupils who do not have proactive parents are
  dependent on (proactive) professionals

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Who benefits from disciplinary exclusion?

• The excluded pupil may reflect on the situation
  and make a fresh start
• The excluded pupil might access more suitable
  provision
• Other pupils might experience less disruption to
  their learning
• Other pupils will see that standards of behaviour
  have been enforced
• Some parents may prefer a school in which there
  are few difficult pupils
• Some teachers may welcome being able to
  concentrate on teaching

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Some big questions

• What is the relationship between disciplinary
  exclusion and low attainment?
• To what extent is an increased risk of exclusion
  an indicator of poor parental experiences of
  education?
• Are there school practices that increase the risk
  of disaffection and disciplinary exclusion?
• What is the relationship between educational
  inequalities and social inequalities?