137,000 pupils a year banned from schools
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.CHILDREN'S chances of being temporarily excluded from school vary sharply depending on where they live and which school they attend, according to a survey published today.
The first national survey of temporary exclusions shows that there are 137,000 a year - a loss of half a million schooldays a year.
Government efforts to introduce a consistent policy for schools exclusions have failed, says the Children's Society survey. Exclusions are one of the issues being examined by the social exclusion unit set up by the Prime Minister which is due to report shortly.
The survey's figures show that one secondary school handed out 469 temporary exclusions in a single year, two for every school day. A primary school in the same authority was responsible for 48, one in every school week.
Yet in one big city, there were only 250 exclusions overall. Most of the authorities were able to quote examples of both secondary and primary schools where no pupils had been temporarily excluded in the course of a year.
Permanent exclusions rose by 450 per cent between 1990 and 1995 to more than 12,000.
The survey says: "These wide variations raise enormous questions about school ethos, coherent policies, social context, recording practices and issues of fairness and equity..."
Questionnaires were sent to 104 local education authorities and 64 returned their forms. Forty per cent had no record of the number of days that temporary exclusions lasted but the survey suggests that the average may be around four days. Nearly two-thirds had no idea how many excluded children were in care.
Ian Sparks, the Children's Society's chief executive, said: "Exclusions carry heavy penalties for us all. The survey reveals a huge range of practice from the very best to the frankly disturbing. Local authorities need basic information about the children they are excluding."
The society says that excluded pupils should remain on the school roll even if they are being educated elsewhere so that schools feel a responsibility to re-integrate them. Schools should get extra money to cope with difficult pupils and there should be a compulsory case conference of parents, teachers and local authority officials before a child is excluded.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments