School suspensions of students have soared above pre-pandemic levels with more than half a million recorded in 2021-22, data published by the Department for Education today shows.
There were 578,300 suspensions from English schools over the course of the academic year - the highest figure recorded in published government data stretching back almost 20 years.
The figures also show that more a quarter of a million pupils (252,643) were given one or more suspensions during the year.
However, the new data shows that exclusions from school in 2021-22 - the first full year not interrupted by Covid lockdowns - were lower than they were before the pandemic.
In 2021-22 there was a suspension rate of 6.91 - the highest in published DfE figures going back to 2003-04. The suspension rate is worked out by dividing the number of suspensions by the pupils enrolled in school.
Overall, suspensions increased by 64 per cent in 2021-22, reaching 578,300, compared with 352,500 in the previous year.
Highest recorded school suspension rate
Across school types, suspensions increased for secondary students by 68 per cent, from 296,200 to 498,100; for primary pupils by 43 per cent, from 46,200 to 66,200; and for special school pupils by 40 per cent, from 10,000 to 14,000.
However, these two years are not directly comparable as schools were not open to most pupils for much of the spring term of 2021 because of a national lockdown between January and March.
The total number of suspensions in 2021-22 is higher than pre-pandemic levels.
In 2018-19 - the last full academic year before the Covid pandemic - there were 438,300 suspensions. The number of suspensions, previously referred to as fixed-term exclusions, had been increasing before the pandemic year-on-year since 2012.
Before 2021-22 the highest suspension rate recorded in the data was in the 2006-07 academic year, when it was 5.66.
Exclusions remain below pre-pandemic levels
There were 6,500 permanent exclusions in the 2021-22 academic year.
This was an increase from 3,900 in 2020-21. However, this included a period in the spring term when schools were only open to key worker and vulnerable children.
The number is lower than the last full academic year before the pandemic, when 7,900 pupils were permanently excluded in 2018-19.
This 2021-22 figure is the equivalent of eight permanent exclusions for every 10,000 pupils.
The most common reason for both suspensions and exclusions was disruptive behaviour.
This was recorded 3,050 times for 47 per cent of permanent exclusions and 289,600 times for half of the recorded suspensions.
