Political Economies of School Exclusion and Their Consequences: Qualitative Data, 2021-2023

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The main objective of this research was to develop a multi-disciplinary understanding of the political economies and consequences of school exclusion across the UK through a home-international comparison. The motivation for the study was the need to understand the great differences in the rates of permanent school exclusions and suspensions in different parts of the UK. with numbers rising rapidly in England but remaining relatively low or falling in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The research was undertaken by the multi-disciplinary (criminology, economics, education, law, psychology, psychiatry, sociology) and multi-site (the universities of Oxford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Queen’s Belfast, and the LSE) Excluded Lives Research Team. The research was organised into two work strands: A. Landscapes of Exclusion; and B. Experiences of Exclusion. In Strand A work packages examined: the ways in which policies and legal frameworks shape interventions designed to prevent exclusions; the financial costs associated with exclusion; and patterns and characteristics of exclusion. Strand B work packages focussed on families’, pupils’ and professionals’ experiences of the risks and consequences of exclusion. The data were collected from representative local educational authorities (4 in England, 2 in both Scotland and Wales) and across NI. Our sampling strategy for schools used modelled data, whereby we calculated the rates of exclusions for schools after controlling for pupil characteristics to estimate whether schools had above or below expected levels of exclusion based on their pupil characteristics. For the purposes of sampling, we used the number of temporary exclusions officially recorded over a five-to-seven-year period (depending on the availability of national data in each of the UK jurisdictions). School and local authority staff were selected on the basis of their roles. This data set comprises of interviews from across the UK with Headteachers, Alternative Provision providers in England and Scotland, and national policymakers in Scotland.

The main aim of PolESE is to develop a multi-disciplinary understanding of the political economies and consequences of school exclusion across the UK. There are great differences in the rates of permanent school exclusion in different parts of the UK with numbers rising rapidly in England but remaining relatively low or falling in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. For example, in the last available figures (2016/7) there were 7,720 permanent exclusions in England compared to just five in Scotland. However, these figures do not account for many informal and illegal forms of exclusion. In this research, home international comparisons of historical and current policy, practice and legal frameworks relating to school exclusion will be conducted for the first time. Previous research and official statistics show that school exclusions are far more likely to affect pupils with special needs, from low income families, and particular ethnic backgrounds. Exclusions have long and short term consequences in terms of academic achievement, well-being, mental health, and future economic and employment prospects. PolESE is designed to highlight ways in which fairer and more productive outcomes can be achieved for pupils, their families, and professionals by comparing the ways in which policy and practice around exclusions differ in the four jurisdictions. PolESE will be undertaken by the multi-disciplinary (criminology, disability studies, economics, education, human geography, law, psychiatry, sociology) and multi-site (Oxford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Reading, LSE) Excluded Lives group established in 2014. In education, policy discourse has tended to find individual reasons for exclusion rather than develop an understanding of exclusion in the wider context of education, social policy and the law. Education policy has also largely ignored the work conducted by school and welfare professionals that attempts to address disruptive behaviour to prevent more serious incidents. In contrast, PolESE assumes that school exclusion cannot be treated as separate from the general welfare and education systems. Preliminary work has illustrated that pressures on schools to perform well in examination league tables can lead to the exclusion of pupils whose predicted attainment would weaken overall school performance, leaving these pupils on the social margins of schooling. Exclusion is a process, rather than a single incident, that can only be fully understood when examined from multiple professional and disciplinary perspectives. The research is organised into three work strands. Strand A, Landscapes of Exclusion, is designed examine the ways in which legal frameworks, policies, and practices of regulation shape systemic practice; and the patterns, characteristics and consequences of exclusion. Strand B, Experiences of Exclusion, will focus on families', pupils' and professionals' experiences of the risks and consequences of exclusion. Strand C, Costs and Integration, will examine the financial costs associated with exclusion; it will also integrate findings within and across jurisdictions to ensure that the learning is continuous as the research develops a coherent multi-disciplinary understanding of the political economies of exclusion. 1. The cost of exclusions at individual, institutional and system level (psychological, educational, sociological, economic, criminological, political lenses); 2. Rights and entitlements (legal, moral, social policy, political lenses); 3. Landscapes of exclusion (geographical, sociological, political lenses); 4. Protection and wellbeing (psychological, social work, legal and social policy lenses). Researchers will engage directly with the Third Sector, professionals at school, local authority and jurisdiction government levels, as well as with disadvantaged and excluded pupils and their families.