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
Policy level
School level
Social
Socio-economic
and
cultural factors
Teacher
level
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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.
2.
3.
Being withdrawn from a specific curriculum area?
Being required to work outside the head teacher’s
office for a day?
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 school’s 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 child’s
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?
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