ABSTRACT

Exclusion is the severest punishment that schools may implement and is frequently associated with disruptive or challenging behaviour. Exclusion is a sanction which may be employed by schools, within the remit of school leaders and governors. The New Labour government policies were formulated within a social inclusion agenda based on the values of community, inclusion, fairness and social justice. Education policy is subject to frequent change and the development of policy is influenced by a range of interacting influences drawn from components such as culture, social, political, economic, technological factors and religion. The link made within policy between education and economic output can be observed through the increasing use of the term ‘knowledge economy’ within discourse about education. Prior to 1997, greater central control over the curriculum commenced through the introduction of a National Curriculum for all state schools in England and Wales by the 1988 Education Act.