ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how young people are pushed out, arguing that both formal and informal exclusion play a role. Researchers tracked a sample of young people between 2004 and 2007, and reported that “levels of psychological distress were consistently higher among children reported to have experienced exclusion at any time point compared to their non-excluded peers”. Off-rolling tends to take place near the end of pupils’ school careers, but schools can also contribute to exclusionary practices during school admissions by gaming or skewing their intakes. Efforts to quantify and analyse school exclusions have traditionally been based on official fixed-term and permanent exclusions – figures that can easily be found in government statistics. One apparently simple way of reducing exclusion would be for policy makers to make it harder for schools to exclude pupils. Orderly environments, improved support and elements of innovation within the mainstream all have the potential to reduce school exclusion.
