Most secondary schools are using “internal inclusion units” to deal with difficult pupils as an alternative to exclusions, according to new government-backed research.
The Department for Education-commissioned report found that over half of secondary schools surveyed used “internal inclusion units” to deal with poorly behaving pupils, as well as a minority of primary schools.
Mainstream schools, “particularly academies,” were more likely to take this approach than independent schools, according to the research by academics from University College London and the University of Nottingham.
“Over half of secondary schools used internal inclusion units to support pupils at risk of exclusion, whereas only a minority of primary schools did,” said the report.
“Schools that had internal inclusion units thought they offered a halfway point between excluding a pupil and keeping them in the mainstream classroom. These schools thought they provided some of the benefits of alternative provision (smaller class sizes, taking pupils out of a conflict situation) without the negative connotations of being excluded from mainstream education.”
The research, which was based on interviews with 276 schools and 200 alternative providers, as well as 25 case studies, comes amid mounting concern about rising levels of exclusions in schools.
Responding to a damning report by the Commons Education Select Committee this year, the DfE admitted that exclusion rates had been rising for the past five years.
The latest figures published this summer showed that permanent exclusions increased by 15 per cent in a year.
In another report published today, research commissioned by the DfE pointed out that local authorities were caught in a “catch 22” as rising demand for provision for excluded pupils hampered prevention and reintegration work.
Sending pupils to alternative provision is supposed to be a last resort, but the new study found rising exclusion rates meant some authorities simply did not have the capacity to try to keep difficult pupils in mainstream schools.
