Permanent exclusions should be banned in primary schools by 2026, according to a report led by a former children’s commissioner, which calls for a new era of incentivising schools to be more inclusive.
The Commission on Young Lives, chaired by Anne Longfield, says that no school should be judged to be “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted without proving it is inclusive and calls for pupil wellbeing to be measured in performance tables.
The report, published today, says schools should release annual figures showing how many pupils have been excluded and taken off school rolls to address concerns about the problem of off-rolling.
It says these new measures would be aimed at reducing the number of pupils falling out of the school system altogether and tackling what it describes as “the culture of exclusion.”
The commission has said that thousands of vulnerable children are falling through gaps in the education system, “putting them at risk not only of low attainment but also serious violence, county lines, criminal exploitation, grooming and harm.”
Its recommendations also include alternative provision being renamed as specialist provision and for pupil referral units to be scrapped.
It also proposes a five-year pilot to grow new inclusive “cradle to career” community schools in the 55 new education investment areas as part of the government’s levelling-up strategy.
As figures show black children are more likely to be excluded, the commission proposes making race-equality training “a core part of teacher training and reforming the school curriculum to make it more inclusive”.
Ms Longfield told Tes that she was impatient to stop permanent exclusions, but that conversations with school leaders had led to the commission recommending this be brought in primary schools by 2026.
Rise in excluded children
The report notes that the number of children excluded from schools rose by 5 per cent in the autumn of 2019 compared with the same period the previous year.
Department for Education data shows the number of excluded children increased by 20 per cent in primary schools and by 3 per cent in secondary schools, while it remained stable in special schools during that term. There were around 380 permanent exclusions of primary school pupils in this period.
Permanent exclusion figures have seen a gradual rise from 5,082 in 2010-11 to 7,894 in 2018-19.
The Commission for Young Lives said that across a 10-year span, from 2010 to 2020, children aged 12, 13 and 14 were consistently the most excluded pupils.
Ms Longfield said: “Over recent years, we have seen the growth of an exclusions culture that perversely rewards removing some vulnerable children from the school roll.
“That must not continue. We need a new culture of inclusion and accountability, that recognises and rewards nurture and that sticks with children and families from cradle to career.
“This does not mean that our ambitions for academic achievement and high standards of behaviour should be lowered - far from it. Our ambition must be for all children to feel that learning and achievement is for them, and to feel school is somewhere that they want to be.
“Inclusive schools and colleges around the country are already showing how it can be done. They are an anchor in the community, offering families and children the support they need to do well. But too often they are the exception because the system does not provide schools with the direction, support and resources needed to deliver for every child.”
Need for ‘financial support’
Ms Longfield said that the government’s Schools White Paper and SEND Green Paper “are a welcome change of direction towards this more inclusive system”, but said that they do not yet have the “necessary financial support”.
The Commission on Young Lives was launched in September 2021 to call for national action to improve outcomes for what it describes as “the most marginalised teenagers”.
It is a year-long independent commission chaired by Ms Longfield and supported by the Oasis Charitable Trust.
When she worked as the children’s commissioner, Ms Longfield called on the DfE to intervene in schools where there is a high rate of off-rolling.
Ms Longfield suggested in 2020, before the Covid pandemic, that the DfE should deploy its regional schools commissioners to intervene in schools that were struggling to support children, particularly those with special educational needs who are subsequently being taken off the roll and educated at home - when that is “not the first choice of the parents”.
She said at the time that around 10 per cent of schools were found to be responsible for around 85 per cent of elective home education in England, but suggested the sector could learn from those schools that were able to support vulnerable children successfully.
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