A case study exploring low permanent exclusion figures in a secondary school

• Main Author: Birch, Katie
• Published: University of Bristol 2014
• Subjects: 371.5
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.682185

Schools should provide children and young people with opportunities to achieve positive outcomes. A school practice which fails to do this is permanent exclusion. Although permanent exclusion figures have fallen over the last decade, the behaviour of some children and young people remains a concern for schools and there is evidence that some students are subject to alternative forms of exclusion. This case study explored how one secondary school had maintained low permanent exclusion figures. Quantitative data was gathered in relation to the school population and incidents of exclusion. Qualitative data was gathered in the form of 23 school policies which were subject to an analysis of policy content. In addition, the views of 10 members of school staff were gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to gather the views of six students. This data was analysed using thematic analysis. Student and staff participants perceived permanent exclusion as a practice that students placed themselves at risk of by persistently breaching the school rules or engaging in a serious one-off offence. Permanent exclusion was predominately thought to have a negative impact on the excluded student and it was therefore viewed as a last resort. Student and staff participants suggested that the school had maintained low permanent exclusion figures because of strategies which promoted positive behaviour across the school and because of additional interventions for students at risk of, or engaging in, poor behaviour. Some of these approaches were alternative forms of exclusion. Staff participants also believed that school staff were committed to inclusion and both groups of participants thought that staff had positive relationships with students. Staff participants identified barriers to the continued maintenance of low permanent exclusion figures, these related to a national focus on academic achievement, inconsistent implementation of the school's behaviour policy and transient students.