ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at barriers and facilitators for youth offenders' engagement with educational inclusion based on a study carried out in one inner London local authority. Empirical evidence demonstrates that there are significant factors that increase the risk of young people becoming involved with crime such as attachment and relationships/parenting difficulties, mental health issues, substance misuse and that interacting systems can be barriers for young people who have offended to engage back into education. Systemic factors represented themes that are related to organisational, cultural, legislative, and universal issues. Systemic factors that the young people talked about involved how they feel within society and the impact this can have on them. Within the school related factors professionals identified themes that were related to practicalities and practice within the education system such as supporting and planning transitions, school exclusions, disrupted schooling and challenging behavior.
