19.3.2012 -School Exclusions Inquiry

On 19 March 2012 the Children's Commissioner for England published findings from their School Exclusions Inquiry in the report, "They Never Give Up On You".  

It found that although most schools work hard to cater for troubled students, for the first time on record, schools admitted illegally excluding children.

As well as the report they produced a film, an executive summary as well as the full report. Below is a summary of the report.

This School Exclusions Inquiry has examined the processes in place for excluding children from state-funded schools, and the factors which influence schools’ decisions to exclude a child.

The Inquiry also looks at the extent the current exclusions system, and the changes introduced by the current Government through the Education Act 2011, are consistent with children’s rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

The Inquiry

Essentially, the Inquiry examined:

• The factors which influence schools’ decisions to exclude;
• The effectiveness of the system of appeals against exclusions;
• The impact of legislation on practice in educational settings;
• The characteristics of children who are disproportionately more likely to be excluded;
• The decision making process up to the point of exclusion.

Background information on exclusions

• Provided the school acts within the law, schools can exclude pupils by reason of their behaviour permanently or for a fixed term;
• The Department for Education (DfE) annually collects data on exclusions from all sate-funded schools;
• Exclusions have fallen steadily over the past decade;
• In 2009-10 179,800 young people (2.4% of school population were excluded on a fixed term basis at least once).

Over-represented groups/Equality

Certain groups of pupils are significantly more likely than others to be excluded.  These are:

• Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN);
• Children from certain ethnic groups eg. Gypsy/Roma/Irish Travellers, Black Caribbean;
• Boys;
• Children on low incomes.

The current policy context

• The school exclusions policy has been in the process of changing since the Education Act 2011 (EA 2011) came into force;
• Changes have broadly focused on four areas:
  • The EA 2011 removes the right of a parent to appeal against the permanent exclusion of their child. The new Independent Review Panels (IRP) (which has replaced the Independent Appeal Panels (IAP)) will not be able to require a school to reinstate a pupil they judge was unfairly excluded;
  • Change the accountability framework for permanent exclusions so that the excluding school retains responsibility for the child’s academic attainment and is required to commission and pay for alternative provision; 
  • Statutory Guidance regarding exclusions is being amended;
• The Public Sector Equality Duty in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 confers a general equality duty.  Schools, school operators, owners and sponsors, local and central government will all need to take account of these new duties with regard to exclusions. 

Findings

• The system of school exclusions is not compliant with the UNCRC particularly with regards to Articles 3 and 12;
• Illegal activity by schools - when a school requires a child to leave but does not record it as a formal exclusion eg. students being coerced into moving to different schools.

Appeals against exclusions

• Evidence supports the need for an independent system of appeals against unfair exclusions – the system of IRP does not offer sufficient safeguards against schools acting unreasonably or unlawfully;
• The Government should ensure that the excluded child and their parents are more aware of the exclusions legal framework;
• The Government should lay Statutory Guidance with regards to the right to appeal.

Prevention of exclusion

The Inquiry examined good practice regarding strategies to prevent exclusions and alternatives to exclusions. 

Key issues are:

• The quality of school leadership – strong leadership means there will be consistent policies in place including those concerning behaviour and discipline;  
• The expertise of the school workforce with regards to SEN, cognitive and emotional development and cultural differences.

Alternatives to exclusion

There is currently no guidance in this respect but with regards to the provision seen, the following characteristics sum up good practice:

• Curriculum continuity;
• The child’s underlying behavioural issues are dealt with;
• Tailored support;
• The alternative provision is well equipped and is an attractive learning environment.

Managed moves systems

The ‘home’ school makes an agreement with another school or an alternative educational setting for the child to move without a formal exclusion appearing on their record.   The following characteristics sum up good practice:

• A formalised system which sets out clearly the responsibilities of all concerned;
• Schools cooperate rather than compete with each other;
• Children and their parents were in involved in the necessary decision making and made in the best interests of the child;
• Shared responsibility of both ‘excluding’ and ‘receiving’ schools.

Recommendations to the Secretary of State (SoS) for Education

• To ensure that schools makes decisions consistent with the UNCRC, particularly with Articles 3 and 12;
• The Government should identify the full extent of unlawful exclusions and recommend prevention measures;
• The SoS must investigate accusation regarding some Academies failing to abide by relevant law regarding exclusions;
• The EA 2011 should be amended to reinstate IAPs as they were prior to the Act;
• To ensure young people’s and parents’ awareness of the legal framework, the Government should ensure that a standard approach is taken in the administration of all exclusions; 
• Statutory Guidance should set out how schools should communicate exclusions to the child and family;
• To ensure justice in the system and to minimise the chance of discriminatory behaviour the DfE should issue guidance which sets out clear rights-based principles which should include:
• The exclusion of a child should only happen to protect the health and safety of the individual and/or others or to prevent disruption to learning;
• An exclusion should be a last resort when other measures have been tried and failed;
• An exclusion is never appropriate for minor infringements of school rules eg. Breaches of uniform, wearing of jewellery;
• There should be a presumption against permanent exclusions from primary schools;
• A school should not exclude a child who has the school named on a Statement of SEN, rather a school should make a proposal that the child be excluded which should then trigger a review of the child’s Statement (where it is decided that an exclusion is appropriate, the Statement should be amended to reflect the new arrangements being made for the continuing education of that child.)

Recommendations to the Teaching Agency

• The Teaching Agency should prepare all newly qualified teachers as well as serving teachers to teach children with the full range of SEN, to understand cultural differences, study child development and socio-psychological matters.

Recommendations for all public bodies in education

• The DfE must work together with the Government Equalities Office and Equality and Human Rights Commission to produce best practice guidance for schools and other public education bodies in interpreting the new equality duties with regards to exclusions.

Recommendations for schools and school operators

• All school operators and sponsors should ensure that parents and pupils are provided with information about their rights so that they can identify and address illegal school activities;
• Schools should include their behaviour and exclusions policies in the prospectus;
• Schools will need to take account of the new duties in the Equality Act 2010, which include efforts to reduce the differentials in exclusions rates between the different groups.

Recommendations to Ofsted

• Where Ofsted discovers evidence of illegal activity regarding exclusions, a judgement of ‘Inadequate’ for the overall assessment of the school should be made;
• There should be a presumption that a school with high levels of exclusions should not be awarded a ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ grading for its students’ behaviour;
• Schools exempt from inspections should be monitoredl;
• To ensure that students learning outside the school setting get as good a deal as those learning within it, Ofsted should inspect all aspects of a school’s provision;
• As part of their inspection, Ofsted should assess the schools’ compliance with equality duties.

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