Why school exclusions are at record levels

The figures were released last week showing the highest annual number of student suspensions and exclusions in England. Is worsening behavior really the only explanation?

Sara, not her real name, said she first noticed her son’s anger and difficulty socializing when he was in nursery during the Covid pandemic.

When he started school, he had complex educational needs and showed symptoms of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and autism – both of which he was later diagnosed with.

He struggled to cope with the school environment, he said, causing chaos that could sometimes see him lash out in class.

“If a child has a physical disability and is in a wheelchair, they won’t tell you to climb the stairs, because they can see physically,” he said.

“But when a child has a mental health condition and they are told that they have to shut up or shut up, not express their emotions, it creates a world of broken people.”

Sara’s son’s behavior led to several suspensions – he was temporarily banned from school.

After several suspensions, Sara’s son was permanently excluded from school and sent to the pupil referral unit, when he was five years old.

He said the whole experience “torn” his family.

Sara’s son is one of more than 9,000 children excluded in the 2022/23 school year.

“Persistent disruptive behavior” was the most common reason cited for suspensions and exclusions that year.

Earlier this year, one in five teachers was reported to have been hit by a student in a survey commissioned by the BBC.

Simon Kidwell, former headteacher of a primary school in Cheshire and president of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the latest data was not a simple case of poorer pupil behaviour.

Mr Kidwell believes schools are struggling to cope with large numbers of children special educational needs and disabilities (Post) closely linked with the rising number of exclusions – led in part by the problem of recruiting and retaining teaching staff.

Teaching assistants, who say they “spent years and developed real skills working with the most challenging children”, “leave in droves”, and specialist schools, better equipped to support students with complex needs, it’s crowded.

Sabrina Simpson, a lawyer who works with families seeking school exemptions, says children are often viewed through a “behavioural lens”.

“I remember one child said to me, ‘I thought I was just bad.’ Then he found out he had ADHD,” she said.

“It’s so sad to hear him say he’s ‘just being naughty’, because everyone has made him feel that way.”

Beth Prescott, education leader at the Center for Social Justice, said students were affected by the problem from “beyond the school gates”.

Exclusions “have a place” in the school system, he said, but in some cases they “mask unmet needs”.

He said the growing number of children with arthritis was one of the “barriers” to children attending school – as well as worsening mental health, NHS waiting lists are long and the cost of living crisis.

Mental health issues and cost of living pressures on families among the complex reasons cited for more children are chronically absent – defined as missing at least 10% of school – than ever before.

Its presence is constantly rising after the pandemic, with one in five children is now recorded as being absent for about one day or more every two weeks.

And next, Mr Kidwell said the persistent absence rate was linked to rising exclusions.

At 790,000 suspensions and 9,400 exclusions in 2022/23 they are significantly more than the previous year, up by 36% and 44% respectively in the previous year.

The suspension rate – the number of suspensions per pupil – is almost one in 10 and is also higher than before.

Of the exceptions noted in 2022/23:

• More than half of them are students special educational needs (which is only 17% of the total student population)
• Over 60% are the same eligible for free school meals (this is 24% of the total student population)
• Gypsy and Romaand Travelers of Irish heritage ethnic groups have the highest rates of exclusion
• There is also an over-representation of students from black background or a mixture of white and black
• And there are regional disparities in it the data too – in the north-east of England, students were four times more likely to be excluded than in central London, despite the area having the same student population.

Ms Simpson said she was concerned by the disparity in exclusion rates between ethnic groups, and called for more training for schools “to tackle unconscious bias”.

Carol Homden, head of children’s charity Coram, said the record numbers showed “something is wrong with these children”.

Dr. Homden, whose own son lost out in nine months of education after being expelled from school, said he wanted to focus more on suspensions, instead of exclusions, as it was “a moment of opportunity to put the child’s life back on track”.

For mother Sara, her son’s prospects are now more positive after he “fought tooth and nail” to find a place at a specialist school, starting in September.

But there is “still anxiety” because he wants to know if the staff and the new environment can help him.

“We love every part of him,” he said.

“They don’t deserve to be treated differently than everyone else.”