ABSTRACT
Following the 1997 election, the new Labour government made a commitment to evidence-based policy development in education. The SEU report (1998: 23) stated ‘the Government will commission a major research study on the reasons for exclusion’. We were commissioned to carry out this research in spring 1999. Our study set out to understand more about the events which lead to fixed-term and permanent exclusions, the procedures and practices which help minimise its use, and the characteristics of high and low excluding schools. Our research in six local education authorities (LEAs) and in schools within those authorities revealed the growing practice of unofficial exclusion by headteachers, which was often undetected by LEAs (Osler et al., 2000). Official statistics, which suggest a decrease in permanent exclusions between 1996/97 and 1999/2000, mask an increasing use of fixed-term exclusions and of unofficial exclusions, both temporary and permanent, during this period.
