ABSTRACT
In certain countries, but by no means universally, exclusion from school is widely accepted as a means of disciplining those young people who are judged to be violent towards their peers, aggressive in their approach to teachers or who continually disrupt lessons. Messages about the need for school exclusion as a disciplinary tool are promoted by teacher unions and reinforced through the media. Government guidance on school exclusion often emphasises the ‘benefits’ of exclusion. For example, the New Zealand Ministry of Education explains:
Stand-downs,2 suspensions, exclusions and expulsions are essentially ways to deal with student behaviour that disrupts teaching and learning and threatens the well being of other students. These approaches are not used lightly by schools, but are part of a process to help students return to productive learning and relationships with the school community.
